


NaLu Fluff Week 2017

by RayhneATess



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-07
Updated: 2017-09-14
Packaged: 2018-12-25 03:39:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 28,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12027324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RayhneATess/pseuds/RayhneATess
Summary: NaLu Fluff Week Prompts





	1. Bonus Prompt: Affection

 

** Affection **

-noun

_Fond attachment, devotion, or love_

* * *

Lucy stood there, waiting, watching, but by herself. The gown she was in was truly made to stand out for the occasion. The light pink fit against her skin, making her seem more like a porcelain doll than a real girl. The length was down to the floor, a train behind her. Her hands gloved in a deep red silk, lightly rubbed at her bare arms, shivering from the cold. The corset made it hard to breathe, which made it harder to get warm as well. Over all, the dress was formfitting, but it made sure to keep a few secrets. Like her legs. Her legs were covered by the silk fabric, and they were hidden even as she danced. At least  _they_  were warm.

Lucy was the center of attention, but she was alone. So very alone at the dance that was for her, to find her a match. As if she would be able to fall in love with someone in an instant. She knew that only happened in fairy tales, and she certainly was not in a fairy tale.

Her eyes wandered, looking around the room for something to catch her eyes. But there was nothing of interest. Just females in large ballroom dresses, so unlike her own slim dress, dancing with men in fancy suits. Must it be so cold in the ball room?

“Miss Lucy,” she looked in front of her to see a man holding his hand out. “May I have this dance?”

Lucy closed her eyes, internally grimacing. She wanted to say no, she truly did. But she didn’t get her way very often, and when she did, it was usually something simple, like an extra hour of writing time. So, when she opened her eyes, she smiled and curtsied. “Of course.”

The man took her hand and led her out to the dance floor. “It is very lovely to see you all grown up.”

“Thank you sir…” She realized then she didn’t know his name.

“My name is Capricorn. I was a good friend of your mother’s.” Lucy’s eyes widened in joy and the man in front of her laughed. “We have met before, when you were younger. Layla had me tutor you in some of your dancing lessons.”

“I remember.” A soft smile was on Lucy’s face as she danced with the man.

“Before the dance ends — I just wanted to say happy birthday, and that I hope, even through this ‘suitor’s ball’ your father is putting up, that you will find happiness.”

“Thank you sir Capricorn, it means a lot to hear that. I will surely enjoy my birthday, knowing my mother’s friends are still as kind as ever.” Lucy did a light curtsy when the music ended, before another man came over to ask her for a dance.

She accepted again and was led to a different spot on the floor. This time the man was more her age. A little bit older most likely. He was handsome enough, but he didn’t have that spark. And on top of that, his hands  _wandered_. They wandered to places they should not have gone, and Lucy carefully grabbed his arm and put it in a more respectable position each time it had moved.

“Lucy, you look absolutely delightful tonight.” She scowled at his familiar tone and he tutted. “Lucy, Lucy, a scowl is not a good look on you my dear.”

“Please  _sir,”_ she emphasized the use of a formality, “I would greatly appreciate it if you would not act so familiar with me.”

“But we are to be married.”

“I beg your pardon?” Lucy took a step away from him, not caring about propriety any longer. “I do not remember agreeing to such a thing. Besides, I do not even know you.”

“Dan Straight at your service.”

Lucy grimaced when he took her back in his arms, but made no further move. She frowned when his hand shifted again before the music ended and someone else stepped in to ask her for a dance. She immediately agreed, a sigh of relief escaping when she looked up to see a familiar face.

“Gajeel.” She relaxed into his arms leaning against him.

“You looked like you could use saving, bunny girl.”

“Yes, thank you.”

“Well, thank the shrimp. She’s the one who noticed your perfect expressionless face getting all moody.” Lucy rolled her eyes at his antics. Of course it was Levy who had noticed. Gajeel slowly walked them over to the food bar, and Lucy hugged the blue haired girl who stood there.

“Thank you so much Levy.”

“Of course, Lu.” Lucy was about to tease her friend about sending her lover to save her when she was called.

“Young miss Heartfilia?” She turned around, the loose hairs around her face swaying from the motion. Very few people called her that, and she saw a man that she couldn’t remember having seen before in anything besides a single picture her mother had. And she was certain she would remember him. After all, his hair was a very deep red, as though he had dyed it with blood. She knew of one other person who had such red hair, and the female knight was watching Lucy closely, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. Lucy waved her over as she responded to the man.

“Yes?”

“I apologize for the intrusion, but I would just like to give you this.” The man held out a ring. It was one similar to the one her mother had always worn and she looked up in wonder. The ring held a moonstone set inside of a dragon’s open mouth. When she took off her right glove and slipped the ring on, the silver making it shimmered and the dragon scales seemed to burn. They were red in the candlelight, but she knew that they were truly just shaped out of the metal. The scales went around the entire band of the ring, and Lucy raised her other hand to her mouth when she saw they spelled something out in very small letters. It was a simple ‘starling.’ The same thing her mother, and not one other person, used to call her.

“Thank you, sir. May I ask, are you Igneel?” When the man in front of her nodded, she quickly wrapped her arm around his middle before pulling away. “My mother said to give you a hug if I ever saw you. Oh,” Lucy’s eyes flashed with a quick realization. “Would you mind waiting here a moment? She had something that I must give to you.” The man nodded again and Lucy took off at a run. Quite a feat in the three inch heels she was wearing. Even Erza looked impressed.

Lucy ran to her mother’s room, noticing it was exactly how it had been before she had died. Lucy pursed her lips as she looked around, searching for the little package that her mother had for the man downstairs. When she found it, she gripped the small box in her hand before bringing it up to her lips. “He’s here mom. You were right, and now, I will complete your final wish.”

Running back to Igneel, she carefully opened the box, pulling out the unique fire opal. “My mother and I found this when we were exploring the river one time. I told her that it reminded me of your hair in the picture she had of you guys. She told me to grab it and said that we would give it to you together.” Lucy looked down at the stone she presented to him. “We never did get to do that, but I hope you will accept it from me now.”

“Of course, young miss Heartfilia.” He said taking the stone from her hands.

“Please, just call me Lucy.”

“As you wish.” Then he turned, but Lucy hugged him again, and this time, he hugged her back, careful not to drop the stone. “Is everything all right child?”

“Thank you.” She said.

“For what dear?”

“For being my mother’s friend, and for coming here today, just to give this to me.” There were tears in her eyes, and Igneel smiled at her.

“Of course. Now that I am done presenting the gift to you, I am certain your father will be over here to make me leave any moment.” With that, he lightly pushed Lucy back into Erza’s awaiting arms. He turned, once again, and called out. “Come on boy.”

“I’m not a dog, dad.”

“With the way you’re eating, it would seem you are a pig.” Lucy looked over from where the boy’s voice came from. He passed by her quickly, his familiar pink hair catching her attention.

There was only one word she could think of, “dragon?”

The boy stopped and turned around. “Princess?”

“Boy, what are you talking about? Just because she is an heiress does not mean she is a princess.” Igneel was confused at the way the two in front of him were looking at each other. But Lucy was completely focused on the boy, and she stepped out of Erza’s arms to inspect him more thoroughly.

“Natsu?” She asked hesitantly, and his green eyes widened. It was as though the entire world was made up of only them and when the boy spoke next, she was certain it was him.

“Luce, is it really you?” Lucy didn’t have any time to answer, as suddenly, her father came up to them.

“What are you still doing here, Igneel?” Lucy’s father sounded furious and she turned to look at him.

“We were just leaving. I apologize.”

“Wait!” Lucy’s sharp but quiet cry rang out around them. “Can they not stay? Please, father?” She begged her father and he snarled. They had moved out into the foyer.

“No, these  _people_ are not meant to be associating with our type.”

“Wait.” Lucy said again, but this time in a commanding tone and her father looked at her.

“What?” He asked, clearly annoyed.

“This is my suitor’s ball right?” She waited for a nod, gulping as she continued. “And I can marry anyone that is here of my choosing correct?” Another nod and this time Natsu stepped forward.

“Luce, don’t.” His voice was low, and Lucy could barely hear it.

She licked her lips, her breathing becoming uneven. She was nearly shaking, but she turned to look at Natsu, seeing him gave her courage. “Then I choose him.”

“What? You can’t—”

“Sir Heartfilia, she actually can.” Lucy’s heart beat faster when Capricorn put his hand on her shoulder, and she smiled thankfully. “You said she could marry anyone who was here, and he is here.”

“Luce—” Lucy looked at Natsu and she could see the look of sadness in his eyes. “Don’t do this. You deserve better than me.”

“See darling? Even the boy knows you deserve better.” Lucy’s father berated her and she took a step towards Natsu, but he backed away.

“I’m sorry. But I can’t.” As he said that, he turned and ran. Lucy could feel her heart pounding and she rounded on her father.

“Deserve better? No. I don’t even deserve him! He is the best friend I have ever had and you took that from me. You take everything! You don’t see what you are doing, do you father? You take, and take, and take. But you never,  _ever_ give! Mother would be ashamed of you.” There was a loud sound in the foyer and everyone there looked at the girl who was then on the floor.

Lucy’s father didn’t even have the decency to look ashamed. “Do  _not_ speak like that of your mother. In fact, do not mention her again.”

There was a red mark on her face and Lucy took off, running the same way Natsu had, but with a different destination in mind.

—

It had been two years since Natsu had seen Lucy. He had never known her last name when they played together as children. It was pure luck the two had even known each other to begin with, as their social status would have normally kept them apart from each other.

The day they met, Natsu’s father had gone out to buy supplies for his shop, and the boy had snuck outside. Igneel never really let him do anything fun in the shop, making him take orders and then give them to the people they were for when they were done. He never got to play with the fire or anything.

So, he had decided to disappear for a few hours. He had run into the center their workshop was in, and had accidentally ran into a woman. She looked down at him while he was on his back dazed, and then a younger version of the woman entered his view. All he could think at the time, when her hair was framing her face, was that she was a princess. She had to be. Only a princess could be that beautiful. “Are you okay sir?”

Natsu sat up and looked around him for whoever she was talking to, because it sure as hell wouldn’t have been his scrawny ass. The young girl giggled before speaking again. “I was talking to you.” Her hand landed on his shoulder and Natsu jumped up.

“Me?” When she nodded, he doubled over in laughter. “That’s a good one princess! I am barely seven, there ain’t no way I’m a sir!”

The girl giggled again. “Well, I’m no princess either.”

“Yes, you are. You have to be?”

“I do?” She asked, tilting her head, the blonde hair once again framing her face. The woman at this point bent down to their level.

“Okay, you two, let’s get out of the street shall we?” She had one of their hands each and the two kept sneaking peeks at each other. “Here we go.” They had walked over to a meadow area, where there weren’t many people. “Now you two can talk.”

The little girl nodded to the woman before releasing her hand and grabbing Natsu’s, dragging him away from the woman and then pulled him down onto the grass. “I’m Lucy! Today is my birthday.”

“Happy birthday, how old are you?” Lucy seemed to think about it.

“This many,” she held up a whole hand.

“Five?”

“Yup!” Then she held up seven fingers. “You’re this many right?” Natsu nodded. “Now, why am I a princess?” Lucy tilted her head again and Natsu decided he liked the curious gaze she gave him.

“You’re pretty.” Her eyebrows scrunched together in confusion and she looked at him intensely before he spoke again. “But you’re so weird.”

“I am not!” She giggled, tackling him. “Take it back!”

“No. Oh gosh, you’re so heavy.” Natsu loved teasing this girl already.

“Stupid.”

“What?”

“You’re stupid.”

“All right. Is that the best you got?”

“You’re a big stupid…” she drawled on until she clicked her fingers. “Dragon!”

“What?”

“You’re a big stupid dragon! My big stupid dragon!” She hugged him tight and he smiled, blushing.

“Whatever, but that means you’re my captive princess.”

“Nope.” She said it quite plainly, and when Natsu went to explain that that was how it worked, she cut him off. “You will be my protector. A dragon protects the princess from all those stupid guys who are useless and only want the princess for her status. The dragon wants the princess because he  _likes_ the princess.” Even at such a young age, Lucy already had an idea of what would happen because of her social status.

When she was done explaining, she looked at him earnestly and the two burst out into a fit of laughter. “Whatever ya say Luce.”

She smiled at him then. A big, bright, and captivating smile that took his breath away. “I like that. My mom calls me ‘starling.’ But you’ve given me two nicknames in one day.” She hugged him. “Thank you.”

“For what?” Natsu was confused when she pulled away with tears in the corners of her eyes.

“For being my friend.”

“Of course I’d be your friend ya weirdo.” He dragged her back into a hug before lightly whispering to himself, “but you probably have a lot of ‘em.”

“No. You’re the only one.” He looked at her confused. “My only friend.” She clarified.

“Lucy dear,” her mother called, seemingly coming back from somewhere. “We have to get back.”

“All right! But can we come back tomorrow mom? I wanna see Natsu again!” Natsu was shocked that she wanted to see him again.

“Of course dear. Will that be all right with your parents?” She was asking Natsu, and he looked up at the older version of Lucy. He nodded and she smiled again. “Then we will see you here tomorrow. Does morning work?” He nodded and watched as the woman went to grab her daughter’s hand. But Lucy shot out of reach, running at Natsu. She tackled him in a hug again and whispered another thank you before running back to her mother.

Natsu watched them leave as he sat there before walking back to the workshop. “Hey dad?”

“What’s up boy?”

“Can I go to the meadow in the morning?” Igneel turned around to see Natsu blushing and he laughed.

“Whatcha wanna go there for boy? Met a girl have ya?” The blush grew and Igneel laughed even harder. “You have! I was kidding, but you have! My little boy’s met a girl!”

“Hey! She called me sir!” A twinkle lit in Igneel’s eyes and he grinned mischievously at his son.

“Oh, was this little girl blonde?” Natsu nodded. “Oh my, her mother was in here. Needed a ring I had given her back when we were younger fixed.”

“You knew her mom?”

“Know, and yes. Layla is a sweet woman. She was the one who set me up with your mother. She and I grew up together. Maybe you can do that with her daughter.”

Natsu smiled. “Hey dad?”

“Yeah son?”

“I wanna make her something special. But I want to give it to her on her birthday when she’s older.”

“Like what?” Natsu looked around at the different things his father was working on, landing on the most recent order, the ring.

“That.”

“Something like the ring I gave Layla?” Natsu nodded. “When would you want to give it to her?”

Natsu began mumbling to himself. “She’s five now. I want her to be able to keep it forever, so it has to be after she’s done growing. Hmm, when she’s sixteen? No, eighteen. Yeah! When she’s eighteen dad!”

“All right, my boy. Now, what are you gonna put on it?”

“A dragon!”

Natsu remembered when he began making the ring. Her mother had died two years after the day they first met, when Lucy turned seven. She was supposed to meet him that day, but when she didn’t show up he went to her, only to find out the terrible news. He held her close after hearing what happened, and after that, she didn’t really like her birthday. So, in honor of her mother’s death he decided to add the word ‘starling’ to her ring.

It was on the night of her sixteenth birthday that her father found out where she would sneak off to nearly every day. He forbade Lucy from seeing Natsu any more. Natsu still tried to come and see her, but she had been pulled further into the house. Sometimes, he would see her walking in the garden, but before he could walk over to her, there would be someone who dragged her back into the house.

He missed the nights where they used to lay outside and look at the stars, even though he hated it. He missed just having her by his side. Natsu knew that there was no way he could get her ring size. So, when his father devised a plan, he listened. The only problem was that Lucy wouldn’t know that the ring was a gift from Natsu, but he hoped she would figure it out.

On the inside of the band, there was an engraving, and Natsu really hoped she would see it. It said, ‘to my princess of the stars.’ It was scrawled in his horrid handwriting, but he hoped she would be able to read it.

So when Natsu’s father had asked him if he wanted to come along to present the gift to her, he had said yes. But he didn’t realize how hard it would be to see his best friend go from one man’s arm to another. He wanted to work up the courage to ask her for a dance before he was kicked out, but instead, he stood by the food bar.

There was a small blue haired woman standing near the wall at the food bar, and beside her stood a tall brute of a man with long black hair. Natsu hadn’t meant to eavesdrop, but he heard Lucy’s name and couldn’t help himself.

“Poor Lucy, she has to deal with all those creeps trying to touch her.”

“True, bunny girl would be a lot happier if that salamander of hers showed up.”

“Gajeel! Don’t call Natsu that! She wasn’t in good spirits before she was thrown into the dress, her father even made Virgo stitch up the slit she had in the side. Said it was inappropriate for a young lady to show that much skin. Ha, if he would have listened to her, then he would have known what she planned to do anyway.”

“Yeah, yeah. Do you really think she can make it on her own though Lev? I mean she was raised like a fuckin’ princess!”

Another girl stepped over to them, in full armor and joined their conversation. “She’ll have  _us_ looking after her. She wants to go on her own, but we aren’t letting her. Besides, I’m certain Gray would absolutely hate to watch her drown in this place. He’d probably break her father’s nose if she had to stay here too much longer.”

“Yeah, well that stripper needs to mind his own business. I don’t care if those two  _are_ going at it!” Natsu’s teeth clenched at that, not quite certain what that meant. But the girl in armor hit the taller man over the head, hard.

“You know he thinks of her as a younger sis- That man will lose his ability to reproduce if he does not stop hurting Lucy’s honor like that.” Natsu followed the red-head’s line of sight. He saw that a man had swept Lucy into his arms and they had stilled from dancing. From the scowl on her face, the blonde really wanted to punch him in the face. His hands were wandering, and Natsu made a fist as she had to physically push him off of her.

“Gajeel,” the little blue one said. “Go, you are the only male here, you have to go ask her to dance, then get her over here.”

“Nah man! I don’t want to get beaten by her father!”

“She isn’t doing her escape  _yet_  you idiot!”

“Oh, okay then.” With that, the brute pushed off the wall and walked out to the dance floor. He ignored the women who threw themselves at him, making a beeline for Lucy. When Lucy leaned against the man, jealousy had flared up inside of him.

—

Lucy grimaced when she fell again. Huffing, she yanked off her heels and then yanked at the seam Virgo had sewn up, tearing it up to her waist. She had accidentally ripped the dress too, but she didn’t care. She wanted out, and even though things didn’t go as planned, she was still out. Sure, she had probably lost any respect Natsu had for her after not being able to fight back all those years. But she wasn’t stupid.

She ripped her left glove off, switching the ring from her right hand to her left hand. She took the rings that she had worn before and moved them to the other hand. Leaving only Natsu’s ring on her left hand. Yes, she knew Natsu had made it. She could tell by the way each scale on the dragon looked like a star; how the word princess overlapped the word starling. She could tell by the way the moonstone was placed in the dragon’s mouth, carefully holding it, as though it were something precious.

He created it for her, and she loved it. She stood up again, taking the heels with her as she ran again. She might need shoes in the future after all. The red gloves were tucked into the bodice of her dress. She would sell as much as she could, get the money, then leave. She wouldn’t stay in that hell hole her father called a home. It hadn’t been a home since her mother had gotten sick. It had lost all of it’s meaning to her the moment he told her that she couldn’t see Natsu. Because at that point, Natsu  _had_ been her home. He was the one taking care of her, making sure she was okay. Not her damn father.

Tears slipped down her cheeks and she wiped at them angrily. She would not cry over something so stupid. Lucy had reached the lake and she sat down at the edge. She touched the water with her hand and watched the stars in the sky ripple. She smiled sadly and leaned back, tears flowing freely from her eyes. Laying down to look up at the sky, she didn’t even bother with removing the tears again, knowing they would only be continuing. Her left side felt cold, although it was probably because the last time she had watched the stars, Natsu was with her, and the ghost of his figure surrounded her, leaving her with nothing more than a false sense of security.

“You had the same idea I did it seems.” Lucy looked up at the voice, confused. She knew he had run off into the forest. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.” Lucy said nothing, afraid she would break down. “Come on, what’s the matter?”

“I—” She took a deep breath in, trying to calm herself as she got out her next sentence. “I’m sorry Natsu. I hadn’t meant to push you into anything, and I didn’t mean to make you so—” She couldn’t finish the sentence, because she had no idea where it was heading. So instead she just mumbled a bunch of apologies to the man standing behind her.

“What happened?” She felt a soft trace over her right cheek. Over the cut from her father’s ring. For some reason he had used his left hand, instead of his right when he had slapped her. He must have had something in his right hand that was important. Lucy’s face scrunched together in concentration and Natsu rubbed his thumb over the wrinkles forming in her forehead.

“I don’t know. I’m uncertain of that myself.” Natsu frowned at her, sitting on her left side.

“Well, what happened after I left then?” Lucy’s eyes shifted and she shook her head. Natsu deepened his frown, not liking that Lucy wasn’t telling him. “Luce?”

“I—” She licked her lips before looking away from him and at the water. “I yelled at him. I told him that he was wrong, and all he did was take, and then I told him that my mom would have been ashamed of him.”

“What do you mean you told him he was wrong?” He understood the rest, but wrong about what? That was too vague for something that Lucy would have said.

She bit her lip, one of her many nervous tics, before she spoke again. “I told him that he was wrong about you not deserving me.” Natsu tried to cut in, but Lucy put her hand up, silencing him. “I told him that if anything, I didn’t deserve you.” She turned to face him. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t fight back for the past two years. But I’m done being the submissive little girl that was broken after her mother’s death. I’m done with that, and I wish I would have realized sooner how much more fun it is when we are together. I wish I would have realized before that meeting you, changed my life in a way that I didn’t know it could. I’m so sorry, for everything my father has put you and your father through. I tried everything I could to stop him from taking the shop from you guys. I tried to do everything I could, but it wasn’t enough. It never is.”

It seemed she was talking about something else then. But all Natsu could think about, was how beautiful this girl was. “Hey Natsu?” She said looking up at him.

“Yeah?”

“Thank you.”

“For what Luce?” She tackled him in a hug, gripping tightly, as though he would push her away.

“For being my best friend. And for being my dragon, even without realizing it.”

 


	2. Day 1: Soulmates

Natsu looked over at the girl sitting next to him. “What do you mean?”

“You protected me, from the people who really didn’t care about me. The one’s who simply wanted—”

Natsu cut the girl off with a soft hand on her now exposed thigh. “The one’s that wanted you for your social status, not for  _you._ ” Lucy nodded and Natsu frowned. “I didn’t mean that I don’t deserve you because of our different social status’.” Lucy tilted her head, like she had so long ago, her hair framing her face again. Natsu reached out, lightly sliding the escaping strands of her hair back behind her ear. A lot of her hair had fallen out of its hold on her head, and she had dirt all over her dress. “I meant that I don’t deserve you because I haven’t told you everything.”

“I haven’t told you everything either Natsu.” Her eyes softened as she realized that he felt bad for not telling her, even though there were some things she would probably never share with the man.

“But, this is a huge part of who I am,  _what_ I am. I don’t want to tell you because you’ll hate me.”

Lucy frowned and grabbed his face, making him look at her. “Natsu, I could  _never_ hate you. Even if you told me that you were sent to befriend me, only so you could kill me.” Tears rolled down her cheeks, fresh once again, and she looked as though she was remembering something. “I would feel a little sad at first, but over all, the time I spent with you over the years were authentic, and I know you feel the same.” Lucy wanted to tell him then, but she couldn’t bring herself to burden him like that, so she pulled her hands back to her side.

She smiled at him, and waited for him to speak. “Lucy I—”

“Lucy, there you are dear. I was wondering where you ran off to.” Lucy and Natsu looked at each other with wide eyes before one of Lucy’s hands chased after Natsu’s, gripping it tightly.

“Father.”

“Dear, would you please come back inside? Your guests are confused at how suddenly you vanished.”

“I can’t do it. I’m sorry father.” Lucy’s hand tightened on Natsu’s, as though he would bolt again. Which, considering how she was injured from the last time he abandoned her, wasn’t going to happen.

“What are you talking about Lucy?” Her father seemed to be trying to keep his words placating, as though he were trying to get to a scared and injured animal. “Come back inside and we can talk about this.”

“What is there to talk about father?” Lucy was standing up, Natsu at her side. “You simply want me to marry someone of high status, and I shall  _not_.” Lucy’s tone demanded that she be heard and Natsu lightly squeezed her hand, attempting to calm her down. “I will not marry someone that I am not in love with.”

“And I suppose you think you are in love with this pink haired ruffian then?” Lucy didn’t say anything, and Natsu was afraid of what was to come. “And you, what have you that you offer my daughter and entice her like a Fairy into the woods to never tread the path back? What magical lies are you telling her?”

“He has told me not a  _single_ lie father!” Natsu thought about her statement, wondering how true the words were, only to find they were the whole truth. Not once when he had talked to Lucy had he lied. He may not have told her everything, but he had never  _lied_.

“Everybody lies at one point.”

“True? Then what lie have you told  _me_ father?” It seemed her father had been drawn into a stalemate with his daughter.

“Jude. Leave the poor kid alone. She doesn’t need to be sold off like a prize, what she needs is to find someone who loves her for who she is.”

“You only say that because it’s your dumbass of a son she has fallen for.”

“ _Oi_!” Natsu exclaimed from beside Lucy.

“I’ll be the first to confirm that my son is definitely a dumbass.”

“ _Oi_!  _Stop being so mean!”_  It was more of a whine than anything that time.

“I’ll second it.” Lucy raised the hand that wasn’t holding onto Natsu’s. “He’s dumb, but he’s my dumb dragon.” She looked over at him and smiled sweetly.

“And you’re my weirdo of a princess, Luce.” Lucy’s stomach had butterflies from the words. They were just so Natsu. He was more of an action than a word kind of guy, and she knew that from the beginning.

“Aww, how sweet.” Natsu and Lucy both turned around to see a girl with long white hair standing at the other end of the bank.

Natsu gaped at her. “Mira! How long have you been standing there?”

“Since just before Lucy got here.”

“How do you know my name?”

“Silly,” the girl began walking towards them. “Natsu talks about you a lot. Plus, my brother is one of your knights.”

“Natsu…talks about me?” Of course that was what the blonde focused on. What was he going to do with the vain girl?

“Yup!” Mira giggled and Lucy tilted her head. Natsu grinned at his best friends habit. “He almost never shuts up about you. Especially for the past two years! I think not being able to see you made him fall even harder for you.”

“Mira!” Natsu exclaimed, not really sure that telling Lucy everything was the right way to go about the situation. He looked over at the blonde haired girl beside him and frowned. She looked to be thinking about something the girl had said, or something it reminded her of. No matter what it was, he didn’t like that it was making her frown. He squeezed her hand and she looked up, her eyes clearing.

Lucy spun around, facing the two men who were talking bitterly to each other. “I can’t come back inside father.”

“Yes, you can. We can talk about—”

“There is  _nothing_ to talk about!” Lucy’s hand broke out of Natsu’s as she raised them up in aggravation. “You don’t listen to me, you haven’t truly sat and talked with me since mother died.” She flinched when she mentioned her mother, taking a step back in fear. “I’m honestly surprised you remembered my birthday, although it probably is because it’s the day she died right?”

When Jude didn’t refute it, Igneel stepped in again. “Look, your daughter has had a very sheltered life, and if you don’t let her go now, you will not get a chance to reconcile with her in the future. She is hurting, and you being the ignorant ass you have always been is not helping.”

Lucy saw something on her father that she hadn’t seen in a really long time. “You’re smiling.”

He looked at his daughter, who had one hand over her mouth to muffle the sobs, and watched as tears fell from her eyes. “I smile all the time dear.”

“But it’s a real smile.”

“Yes, I guess it is.” Lucy relaxed into Natsu when he put his arm over her shoulder. “I’m sorry Lucy. You were right earlier, when you said that your mother would have been ashamed. She wouldn’t want me to control you. She would want you to explore the world before you decide on something for certain.”

“Are you saying you will let me go?”

“Yes, but there is a lot you need to know before you leave.”

Igneel shook his head. “Let her figure it out as she goes, just send a few people with her who know the truth.”

“Don’t worry sir, we are already planning on going with her.” Lucy looked behind the men at the fiery haired female who stood there in all her glory. Natsu grinned at the red-head and at Lucy’s clear confusion.

—

“What  _are_ you talking about Luce?”

“I’m going to Magnolia.” She said simply, watching as Virgo packed clothes for her. Lucy had told her father that if he had asked anyone to report back to him then he better tell them off right then, because she would find a way to ditch them. She wanted to be her own person.

“I heard you the first time. But in  _that_?” Lucy flicked her wrist in annoyance. Not bothering to answer him. Lucy was really regretting letting Virgo pack for her, as even though she was a proper maid and always made sure that Lucy was properly attired, she would certainly pack a lot more  _revealing_ clothing than the blonde was used to. Like the outfit she was currently wearing. A cute outfit, if it weren’t showing so much  _skin_.

The white top stopped right beneath her ribs, and the skirt slid low on her hips. On top of that, the kinky maid had strapped a belt on her charge that hung a whip on the side. Lucy tried to furiously yank the belt off, but the stupid thing just wouldn’t come off. According to Virgo it would ‘come off when she was truly ready for it to.’ Whatever the hell that meant.

Then there were the boots. Oh, those were even worse than the whip. Who goes out into public with thigh high black leather boots? Apparently Lucy would, and on top of that, they had about a three inch heel. Was her maid trying to get her to break her neck?

“Seriously Luce, I know you don’t like the corsets and fancy dresses, but really? You look like a common girl.”

“That’s the point Natsu.” Lucy was awkwardly reaching behind herself, trying to straighten the fabric. She couldn’t reach however, and Natsu stepped closer to her. When his fingers slid under the fabric, straightening it, she flinched. Heat was searing everywhere he touched, and the boy leaned in, his breath fanning her neck.

“Yeah, but you look like you want attention princess.”

She turned around, putting her hand on his chest and smiling slyly. “Maybe I do want attention.” Natsu’s breath caught and his face turned red. Then Lucy burst out laughing. “Your face! Do I— Oh my god, do I really look that good Natsu?”

“Yes you do princess.” It wasn’t Natsu that answered though. It was Virgo, the pink haired maid straightening the purple suitcase and setting it on the ground for Lucy. “Which is why, you will either take me or Natsu as protection.”

Lucy rolled her eyes when Natsu made a noise of denial. “Don’t worry about me Virgo. Isn’t that why you gave me the whip?”

“It would still make me feel better if you had one of us along princess.”

“Well, Natsu, from his lovely outrage at my statement of going to Magnolia, would absolutely  _love_ to go with me.” She winked at the boy and he swore she was getting his heart racing on purpose.

He frowned at the sarcasm in her voice. “I would go anywhere with you Luce, you know that.”

She smiled at him. “What about Happy?”

“What  _about_ Happy? He’ll come with whether he wants to or not.” Lucy let out a breathy chuckle. “But why wouldn’t he want to? It is Happy after all, he is always looking for an adventure.”

Lucy shook her head. “Sometimes I worry for your sanity.”

Natsu looked appalled. “ _My_ sanity? Luce, I worry for your sanity.” He walked over to her and lightly tugged at her shirt. “I could yank this down with a single tug. You are not walking around in something like that on my watch.”

“Well, you aren’t the boss of me. So I will wear whatever I damn well please.”

“Just not your underwear in public, please. At least only do that around me.”

Lucy turned bright red down to her shoulders and Natsu laughed, “I will not walk around in just my underwear you pervert!”

“Whatever you say Luce. I’m gonna go find Happy!” With that he walked over to — no, he walked  _past_ the door to the open window, jumping out of the frame.

She ran over and put her hands on the sill, leaning out. “Can’t you use the damned door like a normal person!”

“Nope!” He replied, running off. “Be back soon Luce!”

Lucy shook her head.

“You two are really good together.” Lucy turned around to look at Virgo. She tilted her head in confusion and the maid continued. “Like, you compliment each other so well. He riles you up, and you obviously calm him down. I can also tell that he makes your blood rush. You do the same to him.” Lucy put her hands up, but before a word of denial could cross her lips Virgo continued. “The way you used to smile talking about him. You’re in love with him aren’t you?”

Lucy looked over her shoulder, not seeing any sign of Natsu, then turned back to her friend. “Yes. Wow,” Lucy laughed breathlessly. “It feels so good to get that off my chest. He can cheer me up when no one else can, but I’m not sure how he would feel about knowing.”

“Your bonds are close. Your souls react to each other in ways that shouldn’t happen for the likes of you two. You will make it through this Lucy. Just, beware of what awaits you okay?”

Lucy was confused, but she stepped forward to hug Virgo all the same. “I will. Thank you Virgo.”

“If you need me, I will be there. You will know how when you need to. Goodbye princess.” With that, the maid walked out the door.

—

“Happy!” The blue cat threw himself at Natsu, wrapping himself around the boy’s shoulder. “We’re gonna go with Lucy. She’s heading to Magnolia. Erza, Levy, and Gajeel are already there. So I guess we are meeting them there.”

“Leaving so soon?” Igneel walked into the room. “Not even leaving behind the dumb cat?”

“No! You’ll eat him!” Natsu claimed, remembering all of the  _many_ times his father had threatened to do just that.

His father chuckled, bringing behind him a green knapsack and another green military style backpack with a bedroll. He tied the knapsack around Happy’s neck and then helped Natsu sling the backpack and bedroll over his shoulders. Then, the red haired man stepped back and swiped at his face at an invisible tear. “My boy is finally moving out.” It was then that his father burst out in laughter. “Only took him until he was twenty years old!” He dragged Natsu into a hug before pulling away.

The two looked at each other, until Happy meowed and flicked his tail, it wrapping around and smacking Natsu in the face. “All right, all right, we’re going.”

“Natsu,” his father called out as the boy walked toward the door, “just, tell her who you are soon okay? There is more to her as well.”

He nodded at his father and pulled open the door, only to get hit in the face by a dainty fist. Natsu scrunched up his face at the girl who still had her hand raised in a fist and looked shocked. “Thanks for that Luce, I think I’m fully awake now.”

“I’m so sorry Natsu! Are you okay? I didn’t mean to I swear!”

“Dirty princess, don’t swear!”

Lucy’s mouth gaped and Natsu couldn’t help it. He leaned over and grabbed his stomach, laughing at her expression. Happy jumped off of Natsu’s shoulder and over to Lucy, who reflexively caught him in her arms. Natsu stood up and grabbed her arm, dragging her away from his home — old home. She was his home now. Natsu held a hand up and he knew his father was waving back. Probably blubbering like a baby too.

Yup, if the sniffles were any indication, then yes, his father was crying like a newborn baby all swaddled up in the blankets. Lucy had begun to lead Natsu, and he turned green at the direction they were going. “Luce, we aren’t going to the  _train_ station are we?”

She grinned evilly. “Yes we are Natsu. Is there a problem?”

“No, no problem.” His voice was choked and small and she took his hand in hers.

“It will be okay Natsu.” She had only been on a vehicle with him about five times, so she knew he got motion sickness. However, Natsu hadn’t been very bad when she had ridden with him. He doubted that would be the case this time.

Lucy was pulling her suitcase behind them, dragging it across the cobblestones, and when Lucy put one of his arms around her bare shoulders Natsu noticed that Happy had taken to resting on top of her suitcase. Natsu sat on a bench while Lucy went to get the tickets, but he watched her the entire time. He laughed when she leaned forward towards the guy who was selling the tickets. She put her hands close together on the counter, pushing her chest together, making her cleavage more noticeable.

He recognized that move. She was trying to get a deal on something. Although he had no idea where she had learned it from. It wasn’t funny however, when the guy leaned forward, closer to her cleavage. Natsu wanted to go over there and drag her away, but a few seconds later and she was away from the guy a bright smile on her face. “Natsu! Natsu, it worked!”

“What worked Luce?” He was honestly confused, because it was like his brain had short circuited when she had turned around with that grin.

“Well, I had seen a few women in your father’s shop try that with you when they were in there, but you never seemed bothered by it. But other vendors seemed affected so I figured I’d try it and it worked! I got us a discount on our tickets!” She held up the three stubs proudly.

“Three?”

“Well, yeah. There are three of us. You, Happy, and me.”

Natsu grinned at her. “That’s great Luce.” It seemed that his brain was back in working order as her high wattage smile disappeared. He stood up and grabbed her bag with one hand, and her own hand with another, lacing her fingers together with his own. She leaned into him as they walked over to the just arriving train. When she showed the man the stubs, he quickly nodded and they walked onto the train. They reached a cabin and slid in, Natsu slumping down onto one of the benches. Lucy shook her head as she put their luggage up in the above storage. She grinned at Natsu and then sat down next to him.

“C’mere.” Natsu grunted and Lucy put her hand behind Natsu’s head and slowly led him to rest on her thighs. He rolled so that his face was buried in her stomach. Her very  _exposed_ stomach. Lucy blushed, but put one hand on his head again, having removed it from shock before, and began to run her nails over his scalp.

Natsu could tell that her breathing had picked up, and he could smell something new on her. But he didn’t really pay attention to that as she kept running her hand through his hair. Lucy on the other hand could feel every hot exhale he made against her stomach, and every inhale that made her shiver. As one hand stayed in his hair, Lucy began to rub his shoulder and his back as well with her other hand. Virgo was right, even this seemingly vulnerable Natsu was making her blood rush, and heat pool in her stomach.

Lucy grimaced when Natsu squirmed, his face turning down, facing her crotch. This was gonna be a ride of torture for her. Having frozen in her comforting movements, Natsu groaned moaning her name. Lucy blushed when her mind turned to less than decent situations in which he would moan like that.

“Luce, don’ stop.” She pushed her thighs together. “It feels good.” Muscles clench and her teeth ground together. He had to be doing that on purpose. Instead of commenting though, Lucy continued to run her fingers through his hair. He groaned again and turned back into her stomach, his arms coming up to wrap around her waist.

Lucy smiled softly at the man on her lap, her heart growing fonder at his actions. She really did have it bad for him, but for now, she would deny it. Instead, Lucy thought on what Virgo had been saying.  _Our souls interact huh? I wonder if that is good or bad._ Lucy grinned at what she imagined Natsu would say.  _“Like hell it’s bad Luce! It means we are meant to be best friends, in every life!”_ Her smile dimmed. Yeah,  _friends_. She rolled her eyes at her selfish thoughts, turning and looking out the window she was seated by.

They hadn’t begun moving yet, but of course Natsu was still sick. Happy had moved to lay over Natsu’s shoulder, making it so that she would pet him as well as Natsu. And that  _was_ exactly what she was doing to Natsu at the moment, petting him. He was just so adorable.

She had felt his glare when she had pulled that boob move on the clerk. She desperately wanted to see if it would truly work, if she was appealing enough. She knew that men wanted her, but did they want her  _without_ the social status. It seemed they did. Her only problem was what to do with the information. Walking to the train station she had slung Natsu’s arm over her shoulder so that boy’s would stop watching her like she was a piece of meat. It had worked to an extent. Some men still had lingering gazes, but nothing nearly as bad as it had been before. So if people thought she was taken, they would back off.

The cabin door opened and Lucy looked up to see a young girl with deep blue hair, and there was a cat on her shoulder. Happy looked up when they entered and if Lucy thought that a cat could raise their eyebrows, he would have. Seemed he liked the feline.

“Hello. I apologize for intruding, but may I sit here?” Lucy smiled and nodded, and as the girl closed the door, Happy bounded off of Natsu, who groaned, and over to the other side.

“Sorry, Happy is just really excited. I don’t think he likes that Natsu is hogging all of my attention right now.” She smiled apologetically at the girl. “I’m Lucy.”

“I’m Wendy. It’s lovely to meet you Lucy. And don’t worry about your cat, Carla and I will keep him company.”

“Oh, he’s Natsu’s, not mine.” There was a grunt of affirmation from the man on her lap and Wendy apologized again.

“Oh, you aren’t together? I thought, well, with how close you two are and just the way that your auras are together— Sorry, I’m babbling.”

Lucy smiled sweetly. “Don’t worry about it. Auras?”

“Yes, the child can read auras. It is part of her powers, you seem like you have never met an aura reader before.” Lucy looked at the cat that had spoken.

“What the fuck?”

“Watch your language around the child.”

“You— You just talked!” Lucy couldn’t help but be confused.

The cat rolled her eyes,  _rolled her eyes!_ “Now you act like you haven’t met a talking cat. Tomcat here is one, what are you playing at girl?”

“Tomcat?” Lucy looked over at Happy. “You mean Happy? Happy can talk?”

“Aye sir!”

Lucy looked down at the man in her arms. “Yeah, next your gonna tell me that you really are a dragon.”

“Well, dragon slayer. I am one as well.” Lucy looked up at Wendy again. “I could smell his magic from miles away. I’ve never met another dragon slayer before.”

“This is, it’s all just so much. I mean, there is no way!”

“Yup, he’s also part demon. And you, you’re some celestial being. I’m uncertain, but you seem to be shining brightly, like a star.”

“Celestial?” Lucy thought back on what she had known in her life, mumbling to herself. “Virgo, Capricorn, oh my, Aquarius? Then Cancer and Taurus too. Scorpio and Aries too, wow. My friends, they—”

“Yes, we are all celestial beings.” Lucy looked up to see Virgo standing in front of her. Lucy accidentally pulled on Natsu’s hair and he grunted in annoyance.

“Not so rough Luce.”

“Sorry Natsu.” She couldn’t bring herself to see if he was coherent at that moment. When Lucy blinked Virgo was gone and Lucy was looking at Wendy and Carla once again.

“You really didn’t know?” Wendy asked.

“No. I thought that they were all just fairy tales my mother told me.”

“That’s funny.” The younger girl laughed. “You’re heading to Magnolia right?” When Lucy nodded, the younger girl continued. “When we get there, let me show you my guild.”

“Guild?”

“It’s a place for the magical. Where they all convene and connect. They have jobs for magic users, and they even help us train our powers. Although, we’d have to figure out what you are in order to train you properly.”

“So you’re gonna take me to your guild when we get there? And Natsu and Happy can come too?”

“Of course! We welcome everyone in Fairy Tail.”

 


	3. Day 2: Rain

****

It was raining when they pulled into the train station in Magnolia. “Oh no, it looks like Juvia’s at it again. I wonder if it was because Gray rejected her again.” Wendy said amused.

Lucy perked up at the name. “Gray? As in Gray Fullbuster?”

“Yeah, how do you know the ice-make mage?”

“He’s a really good friend of mine. A lot like my older brother. A friend of Virgo’s actually sent him to meet me for some reason.” Lucy lightly shifted Natsu so that he was sitting up, and the boy groaned. She stood up from the bench and grabbed their luggage from overhead. “Anyway, Gray and I are pretty good friends, but I didn’t know about any of this magic stuff, so I guess I didn’t know him that well.”

“Lucy, that’s really not fair to yourself — you know a side of Gray none of us do. But besides that, master just called me back from a job because we recruited another dragon slayer. I was wondering if it was Natsu, but now I am not so certain.” When Lucy looked at her in confusion, Wendy explained further. “I can smell another dragon slayer here. Smells like metal.”

Natsu groaned when the train came to a full stop before he stood up, rushing out of the train, not looking back. Lucy shook her head and waited for Happy to jump on her shoulder. When he had settled down, she walked out of the train with Wendy following behind her. “Luce! What took you so long?” Rolling her eyes, she chucked his pack at him and then turned to Wendy.

“All right, so where are we going?”

Natsu’s nose twitched. “Why do you smell funny?”

“Ignore him.”

Wendy chuckled and waved her arm to tell her to follow.

The walk to the guild was quiet and surprisingly so. But Natsu looked like he was trying to figure something out. “Natsu, knock that off, you look like you’re in pain.”

“Oi, be nice to me Lucy.” Lucy groaned as his arm crossed her shoulder. But she was glad that she didn’t have to make him sling his arm over her shoulder to get the guys’ looks off of her.

They had unknowingly walked into the guild and it was extremely noisy. The first thing that Lucy heard was a cry of her name. Then she heard an unfamiliar voice.

“Gray, your  _clothes_.”

He ignored her, running over to Lucy and picking her up, spinning her around. “Hands off!” Natsu yelled at him and punched him in the face.

“You wanna go pyro?”

“You bet stripper!”

Lucy put a hand to her face. “Boys, please.” They didn’t listen, however they didn’t get a chance to when Erza walked over and smacked their heads together. “Ya shoulda listened.”

Wendy walked over to the bar in the back, which was being manned by a familiar face. “Mirajane?”

“Yes, Wendy?”

“Is master here? I have someone he would like to meet.” Mira looked up then and winked, she  _winked_ at Lucy.

“Let me go find—”

“You brats made a mess again!”

“Oh,” the platinum haired woman giggled. “I guess I don’t have to.”

“Oh, there is a new recruit yes?”

“Yes, master.” This came from Erza who was glaring at the now standing boys. Natsu was leaning against Lucy, using her as a way to hold himself up.

“Yo, gramps!”

The short, white haired man’s gaze zeroed in on the pink haired boy and he hid behind Lucy. “Natsu. Been a few years huh? Still wild as ever I assume.” Lucy laughed and the short man’s gaze landed on her. “You must be the new recruit.”

“I’m Lucy.”

“Ah, so it’s you who is Gray and Erza’s little sister.” Lucy smiled at that and nodded. “Yes, Wendy, Carla, Natsu, Happy, Erza, Gray, and of course Lucy, follow me.”

—

Lucy set her bag down in the spare bedroom Natsu had. She remembered how when they were younger, when he was nearly twelve and she was nearly ten, he kept disappearing for months.

She turned around at the door creaking open. “Did you build this yourself?”

“Yes. I made it so I could add on too.” He was leaning in the doorway and grinning at her.

“Well, I’m sorry for intruding. If we could take a few jobs, then I will find an apartment and get out of your hair.” She hated that she had to depend on him for so much, but when she said that he frowned.

“Luce,” he walked over to where she was seated on the full size mattress. “You don’t have to do that.” Natsu kneeled down in front of her. He grabbed her hands and rested his head on her bare thighs. “You’re always welcome here.”

“But it’s your and Happy’s home, I don’t want to take that away. It’s your place to escape to.”

Natsu got up and sat on the bed next to her, pulling her into a hug and nuzzling into her neck. It was funny how much of an animal he could be sometimes. “Yeah, but why would I ever want to get away from you Luce? Besides, you can make sure this place stays clean.”

He pulled back with his shit-eating grin that Lucy knew so well and she smiled, rolling her eyes at her best friend. “And the truth comes out.”

“Yup, and you cook  _the best_ food Luce! So I wanna keep you around for a while.” Lucy leaned into her friend and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“Then I better get unpacked. At least all we’ll have to spend money on is food with whatever money we make from jobs.” Natsu watched as his friend began to unpack, mumbling to herself. “I need to get some sheets and a comforter, then maybe a few other things for personal touch. Maybe I’ll ask Virgo to bring me some stuff from the—” Lucy cut off and looked at a point on the wall, her head tilted and a confused look on her face. “Celestial realm? How did I know that?”

“It’s ingrained with your magic.” Natsu leaned back on the bed as the blonde continued about her unpacking. If he was being completely honest with himself — yeah,  _as if_ he would do that — then he would admit to what Mira had claimed over by the lake. He had fallen for this girl. But she didn’t need to know that.

Natsu grinned when she turned to look at him and she smiled back. “Thank you Natsu. I don’t know if you know how much it means to me that you’re letting me stay here.”

“Really, Luce. My door is always open. No matter what. All right?”

“All right.” She looked out the window, to see that it was still raining. But that was only the beginning of the flood.

—

“Hey Luce!” Lucy turned around from the bar with a solemn look, trying to prepare herself for what she would see. “Me and Flare are gonna go out today. And,” Natsu looked over at the red haired woman with a conspiratorial look. “We need the house tonight.”

“Ah, okay…” Lucy watched as Natsu turned his bright grin on the model like female right next to him. It had been nearly a year since they — no, since _Lucy,_  joined Fairy Tail. Natsu had already been a member.

Erza went to Natsu from where she had been seated at one of the tables in the room. “We’re supposed to go on that job today Natsu.”

“Just go without me.”

“It specifically requests  _you_ Natsu, we  _can’t_.”

“Sorry Erza, I have a date.” With that, Natsu walked out of the guild and Erza turned, stomping over to Lucy.

“What is going on with him?” Lucy shrugged at the question. She honestly didn’t know. Natsu had met Flare after she had tried to kill Lucy on a job. After talking with Lucy, Flare had admitted that she was hired for whatever it was she had to do, just so that she could go back home. Lucy had helped the girl get back home, no strings attached — except “ _please don’t kill me”_  and they had become friends. Well, sort of.

A month after that, Lucy had gone home to see Flare and Natsu on the couch making out. She had gaped for a full minute before she turned around and slammed the door behind her, running to Levy’s dorm in Fairy Hills. Lucy still wasn’t used to their relationship, and they had been dating for a full two months.

“I wish I knew Erza. Either way, can I stay with you tonight?”

“Yes, Lucy, of course you can.” Lucy tried to smile her thanks, but all she could think of was the fact that she was being kicked out of her house,  _again_. It was the third time this  _week_. She had already started looking at apartments. Erza looked at her with pity and Lucy couldn’t handle it.

“Actually, I’m gonna take a job. Can I just take the one that asked for me and Natsu?”

“Sure. Do you want me to—”

“No!” Lucy took in a breath. “No, I need some alone time. Thank you, Erza.” Erza gave her the flyer and Lucy left to go pack. She didn’t bother leaving anything behind this time. She knew she would just find an apartment when she came back.

Walking away from his house, Lucy looked back over her shoulder, a sigh escaping her. When she got to the train station, the man who had recently come to recognize her was working the ticket station. She walked up and smiled tightly at him. “One ticket please.”

“No one going with you today sweetheart?”

“Nope. Just me.”

“Well, you be careful. 70 jewels please.” Lucy pulled the jewels out of the purse resting against her hip and the man looked at her in concern. “You aren’t gonna try and weasel a discount?”

“Doesn’t matter, you wouldn’t fall for it anyway.” Her reply was monotone and the man leaned over the counter.

“What’s wrong Lucy?”

“Nothing.” She left the jewels and snagged the ticket from the man’s hand before turning around and stalking onto the train, finding a seat.

The entire ride was uneventful and she made her way to the clients house, which was over by where she used to live. She knocked and the door opened to reveal a man with deep red hair. “Igneel?”

“Lucy? Where’s Natsu?”

She looked down. “He couldn’t make it.” Igneel grabbed her shoulder and pulled her into a hug before bringing her inside. “But I’m here to take the job.” Igneel looked down at her hand.

“Do you still have your ring that he made you?” Lucy’s hand flew to her neck, where the ring hung on a necklace hidden inside of her shirt because she didn’t want Natsu to know about it. He had asked her once recently why she still wore it when she had so many other rings and she had replied with a simple ‘because you made it for me.’ He had grimaced and turned away. When he looked at it again after that, it was with some weird emotion she couldn’t place. So, she hid it.

Another knock sounded at the door and Igneel looked at it confused before going to open it. A blue cat flew in, straight for Lucy and hugged her chest. “Lushi! You left me!”

“I’m sorry Happy!” She hugged him and coddled him like a child. She hadn’t meant to leave him behind, but she had been in such a hurry to get out of Magnolia and away that she had forgotten about him.

“Well, now we have Happy, so it should be just fine.” Igneel turned to look at Lucy before frowning. “This might be a little uncomfortable for just you Lucy. I need you to go to the party your father is having tonight and give this to him.” Lucy nodded, taking the necklace Igneel held out. “Oh and Lucy, happy birthday.”

Tears filled her eyes as she remembered that today was indeed her birthday, and that not one other person, besides Happy, who had said the same that morning, remembered. “Thank you Igneel.”

“Now, you can use the spare bedroom to dress. Do you have something appropriate?”

“I will ask Virgo to get me something.” And Lucy did exactly that. She gripped the fabric in her hand, frowning at herself in the mirror. It was the same dress she had worn at her suitor’s ball, only fixed and clean. The slit in the side was still there, but not all the way up to her waist like it had been when she had ripped the dress. Lucy was uncertain of the look on her.

“You look beautiful princess, do not worry about a thing.” Cancer had done Lucy’s hair, and Gemi and Mini had done her make up. Virgo was right, she did look beautiful, but the person she wanted to see her was far away. She smiled ruefully at her reflection before she remembered the etiquette lessons Aquarius had given her as a child.

When Lucy walked into her childhood home, she released a heavy sigh. Happy sat on her shoulder and was holding the necklace for her father. Lucy looked around to see a lot of the people that had been at her suitor’s ball. She got to the door and was stopped by one of the guards. “Name please.”

“Lucy Heartfilia; I’m just here to see my father if you would get him for me.”

“Of course miss, just a moment.” One of the guards, the one who had done all of the speaking, walked off to find her father and Lucy fidgeted nervously. She had no idea how her father would react to seeing her after the year she had.

“My dear Lucy. Happy birthday, sweetheart.” Lucy curtsied for her father, an automatic response that her father chuckled at and Lucy looked up at him.

“Thank you father.” She took the necklace from Happy and then held it out for her father. “Igneel requested that I give you this.”

Her father took the necklace and Lucy turned around to leave. “Will you not stay?” Her father put a hand on her shoulder. “Enjoy the party at least?”

“I would love if I could retire in a room. It has been a long day and I am weary. But for the party, no, I will not stay.”

Her father nodded and put his arm through hers. “Then I shall walk you to your room so we may talk a bit if that is okay with you.” Lucy smiled and her father took that as an okay. “So, how is that boy of yours doing? The pink haired one?”

“Natsu?”

“Mm, yes, has he made a move on you yet?”

“Ah, no.” She chuckled nervously. “He actually has a girlfriend.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah.” Her father didn’t talk more as he thought about that. But his hand that was still holding the necklace she had brought him went in front of her.

“This is actually for you. I have one for the boy as well. Protection charms if you will. I will have someone bring his to you in a moment. Please darling, rest.”

“Thank you father.” Lucy grimaced as she turned the knob, afraid she was going to find a barren room. Instead, it was exactly the same as she had left it a year ago. Of course, it was cleaner than it had been when she went, throwing things around for Virgo to pack. She laughed at the thought before laying on the bed, falling asleep in her dress.

—

Lucy was still in the dress when she got on the train back to Magnolia. Although it had been five days since she had left.

Her dress was tattered, worse than it was the first time she wore it. She had bruises and cuts, and even a broken leg. But she had to get back. She had somehow ended up in a fight, then tied up in the woods, and then a fight again. She had no idea where Happy had been during the first fight, but when she screamed out in pain from the bones in her leg shattering — the guy she was against’s specialty was shattering bones — he showed up and flew her out of there.

She was wearing three necklaces now. Her ring, her charm, and Natsu’s charm.  _Protection charm my_ ass. Protection from what?

Suddenly there was a man sitting across from her and she looked up to see Loke. “What are you doing here?” She didn’t say it annoyed or angry, but just a tired question, and the orange haired man looked at his mage in concern.

“You’re injured Lucy. What happened?”

“I don’t even know.” Lucy had fallen asleep after that when Loke looked to be deep in thought, and when she woke up they were pulling into Magnolia station. It was raining again, and Lucy gave a small smile before the pain registered in her brain and she groaned.

“Let’s get you to the guild. Happy, you get her luggage.” Loke said.

“Aye sir!”

Loke carried her all the way to the guild before walking in. “Where’s Wendy?”

“I’m right here Loke, what’s— oh my!” Wendy rushed over to Lucy, who had fallen back asleep. “Wake her up! Right now!” Her voice was laced with panic as she assessed the state Lucy was in. “We don’t have time, lay her down. How long has she been injured?”

“I’m not sure. She couldn’t call any of us out for some reason.”

“She even has two protection charms on, they should have stopped something like this.” Wendy watched as Loke laid her on the ground where he stood and tried to wake her up. “Damnit Lucy, wake up!” Wendy had tears in her eyes. “She’s going into a coma. If we don’t wake her up now we may lose her. She needs excessive heat. Where the hell is Natsu when you need him?”

“Would lightning work?” Laxus asked and Wendy shook her head. He stood with his hands poised before they dropped to his side. No one knew what to do. If master were there he would have been able to help, but he wasn’t, and no one knew where Natsu was; they hadn’t seen him since the third day Lucy was gone.

Just then, said pink haired man walked in the guild. “Is Lucy back? I can smell her. I’ve got something to tell her!” He seemed really excited about whatever he had to tell her.

“Good, you’re here Natsu!” Wendy called and Natsu looked at her kneeling on the ground. Happy and Carla were next to her, and Loke was crouched down, blocking Natsu’s line of sight. “Come here, we need your heat. You need to burn her!”

“Burn who?” Natsu walked over cautiously and bent down to see Lucy. His heart was racing as he saw the desperate state she was in. “What happened?” This time, Erza came and answered.

“You didn’t go with her is what happened.”

“We don’t have time for a fight! We will lose her if you don’t burn her  _now_! Burn her right leg.” Wendy was being commanding, and everybody backed off, including Erza. Natsu looked at Lucy’s leg, which looked completely fine, but he trusted Wendy so he did as she said.

Lucy woke up screaming in pain, and when Natsu began to pull back, Wendy told him to continue. He did, but it was an internal struggle for him. He didn’t want to hurt her, but he had to.

“Nat— Natsu.” Her hand reached for her neck and she unclasped a necklace, giving it to him. “For you.” Her voice was croaked and Natsu pulled back, despite Wendy’s protests. He took it and she smiled at him. Natsu could focus on inspecting her now, and he saw that she was in the dress from her suitor’s ball. Why though, he didn’t know. He saw that there were two more chains on her neck and he followed them down to see that one was the same thing she had given to him, only a slightly different pattern. The other was the ring that he had made her.

“Luce?” His voice cracked when he saw the state she was in, but Wendy had already begun healing her. Loke left, leaving Natsu to watch over her. But not without making sure that Natsu put the necklace on. If Lucy was going to give it to him in her near-death state, then he better take it and wear it right then.

Lucy grimaced when Wendy went to her leg and her hand was clenched in a fist. Natsu grabbed it and made her use him instead. When Wendy was done, she turned to Natsu. “She needs to rest, but she needs someone to watch over her. Will you do that Natsu?”

“Yeah, I’ll take her back to the house to rest.”

“No!” Lucy’s exclamation startled those around her. “Can we just stay in the infirmary? Please, Natsu.” Her eyes were wide and Natsu nodded.

Natsu picked Lucy up and brought her to the infirmary, laying her down on one of the beds.

—

Natsu hated to see her that way — broken and hurting. Natsu had left Gray watching over her while he went home to shower. It had been three days, and she was still on bedrest. Her luggage was still not unpacked, she wouldn’t let anyone take it to Natsu’s house. Natsu looked around his house. There was a bunch of random crap strewn around and he could already hear her scolding him about for just leaving it around. There were cups on the coffee table. About ten. Three had lipstick stains on them.

“Damnit!” Natsu swiped at the dishes on the table, the glass shattering on the floor.

“Natsu!” Happy flew into the room in a frenzy. “What’s wrong?”

“Why didn’t she come get me?” Natsu turned to look at his friend. “I would’ve come had she just  _asked_.” He sunk back onto the couch. Happy flew over to him, landing beside him and looking up at him in concern.

“Natsu, she had Erza ask you. You ignored her every time she tried to tell you something. You would interrupt her or just plain walk away. She gave up after a while Natsu.” Happy put his paw on his friend’s knee, trying to comfort him.

The door burst open. “She’s asking for you.”

“She’s awake?” Natsu ran after Gray, Happy following closely behind.

“Yes, stupid pyro. How  _else_  would she be asking for you?”

Natsu ignored the dig, favoring instead to run ahead and into the infirmary. “Luce.”

She looked up with a smile. “Hey Natsu.” He couldn’t breathe, all he could think of was that his princess was okay. She was okay and in front of him. “I just wanted to let you know that I’m moving into an apartment.”

He really couldn’t breathe. She was,  _what_? “What? Luce, no.”

She put up a hand. “I’m not debating this. You and Flare won’t have to worry about me anymore that way and Happy can always come stay with me when you have her over.”

“No Luce. Flare and I aren’t together anymore.”

Lucy looked up shocked. “What?” Natsu leaned down at the tears in her eyes, dragging her in for a tight hug.

“I’m sorry. I know you were good friends but I just—”

“Natsu, what happened?”

“She got annoyed that you came before her, said you should always put your girlfriend before other girls. And I told her no, that you always come first. So after that we kind of broke it off. I’ll always put you first Luce. You should know that by now. After all,” he said with a sly smirk. “You are my princess.”

Lucy looked at him in shock, “yeah. And you must protect me my dragon.” The two hugged tightly until Lucy grimaced. Natsu stepped back to let others in but she put her hand out onto his arm. “No, don’t go.”

“I won’t. Would you like to come see everyone else?”

“Sure.”

Natsu helped Lucy to stand up, making sure she was leaning on him. When they walked out everyone looked at Lucy excitedly. “Are you feeling better Lu?”

Lucy smiled at her friend, nodding as she held onto the pink haired man beside her. “I’ll be fine. I just need to rest.”

“What you need,” Wendy interjected. “Is warmth, but we don’t have enough heating pads to heat your entire body.”

“Oh, then Luce and I can just lay together!” Lucy looked up at Natsu, who was grinning like he had just won the jackpot. Instead of arguing about it, she just nodded, leaning further into him.

“Good, now, you two should get going. Have fun now!” Lucy was confused at the last part, but she just shrugged it off.

Natsu picked her up and carried her to his house. The two laid down in Lucy’s bed, Natsu on her left with an arm slung over her waist.

“Hey Luce?”

“Yeah Natsu?”

“Let’s do something. Just us.”

 


	4. Day 3: Vacation

Doing something just them was easier said than done. Everyone wanted to monitor Lucy after her last adventure. All of her spirits were much more protective of her and all of the dragon slayers were as well. Literally all of them; Sting and Rogue and Erik had randomly shown up at the door to the guild asking if she was okay. There certainly was something special about the girl.

Natsu was the most protective, although it could have just seemed that way because he was with her all the time. They laid together at night — to keep her warm per Wendy’s orders.  _Yeah right, Natsu just wanted some Lucy cuddles._ Natsu made sure she was eating and drinking and even helped her to clean the house, by sitting on the couch and staying out of her way that is. He made sure she was okay and even took to waiting for her to come out of the bathroom.

Either he was completely smitten with her, which everyone in the guild (except the dragon slayers) would laugh at the thought of  _their Natsu in love? Yeah, right._ No, it was simply that he was worried and protective of his favorite guild member. The dragon slayers on the other hand, knew she smelled  _really_ good. Like the night air and vanilla with lavender. She also began to smell a little bit like a campfire and cinnamon, but they were smart enough to just pretend they had noticed nothing.

“ _Luce_.” The pink haired dragon slayer had taken to whining at the guild hall when Erza asked to join them on their mission,  _again_. “When are we gonna do something just  _us?_ ”

“You mean, you guys wanna take a vacation?” Lucy began to speak, but Erza interrupted. “Because I have a voucher for a week free at a really nice resort for two, and I was looking for someone to give them to.”

“Yeah! Luce can we?” Ah yes, another new development. He had taken to whining at her like a puppy  _and_ asking her about nearly everything. She nodded and Erza grinned.

“Wonderful. The voucher actually expires soon, so you should go soon! It’s a free room, single room sorry.” Lucy waved it off. They had been sharing a bed for the past four months, she had gotten used to it. “Happy won’t be able to come though.”

“That’s okay. I want it to be just Luce and I. He can stay with Carla and Wendy.”

“Anyway, free breakfast all you can eat and the restaurants within range there are complimentary. It is a resort, and all extremities are included in the voucher, so don’t worry about a single thing.”

Lucy frowned. “Erza are you sure you want to give this to us then? It sounds like a really great deal.”

“Yeah, but I’m not gonna get the chance to go anytime soon, and the voucher expires next week.”

“Oh, okay. Only if you’re sure.” Erza nodded and grinned at the two in front of her.

“You two go pack. I will bring the voucher to your house.”

—

“She really wanted us to enjoy ourselves I guess.”

Natsu grinned up at Lucy, who was taking in the sight in front of her. It was a nine story resort, and extremely exclusive. Lucy had been there once with her mother and father when she was younger, but she wasn’t allowed to do much. This time, she would be. “Let’s go Luce.”

She nodded and together, they walked into the building. “Hello, how may I help you?” A man behind the counter addressed them.

“Umm, we have a voucher reservation for the  _Princess and Dragon_ suite?” Lucy would have torn up the paper and thrown it back at Erza if she had read that earlier. She totally had planned to throw Lucy and Natsu under the bus.

“Ah yes, Natsu and Lucy Dragneel correct?”

“No—“

“Yup, that’s us.” Natsu answered, cutting her off. She looked at him with a glare, but the boy just grinned at her.

“Here are your keys.” The man handed them two cards and then pointed up. “Top floor. Enjoy your stay.”

“Thank you.” Lucy and Natsu made their way to the stairs, because an elevator would not be a good thing for Natsu to use. Natsu slung his arm over her shoulder and Lucy suddenly felt cold elsewhere. She walked a little closer to him to get more of his heat.

When they got to the door of the ninth floor, it asked for their keycard, so Lucy slid hers in and pushed the door open when it turned green. She stepped in and stopped, Natsu running into her from behind.

“Luce? What’s the matter?”

“It’s the entire floor. Our room is the entire floor Natsu.” Her feet took small steps and Natsu cautiously walked in behind her.

“Is that bad?”

“No,” her eyes caught on something else. “We have our very own pool. And a mini whirlpool, this is amazing Natsu.” She spun around and impulsively kissed him on the cheek. “Let’s explore!”

“Explore?” Natsu was dazed that she just did that with such a bright smile. “Let’s, yes. Explore!”

Natsu shut the door behind him. “Look!” Lucy pointed to a square hole in the wall excitedly. “We have our very own dumbwaiter!”

“Wouldn’t having a dumb waiter be a bad thing? I want all my food right the first time.”

“No silly!” Her arms wrapped around his torso, again impulsively. She looked up at him from underneath her lashes. She didn’t even realize that she was acting like he was her boyfriend. “Not a dumb  _waiter_. It’s a dumbwaiter. It means they put the food on the slab and use the pulley to lever it up here. We don’t have to deal with anyone else except over phone if we don’t want to.”

“Really? You mean it can truly be just us for an entire wee—” Just then there was a call on the phone and Lucy went over to answer it.

“Hello?”

“Hello. This is the front desk. I’m just making certain that everything is good with your suite.”

“It is fabulous.”

“Well, then I hope you enjoy your two week stay ma’am.”

“Two weeks?”

“Yes ma’am, that is what the voucher says.”

“Oh. Thank you sir.”

“No problem. Goodbye.” The man hung up and Lucy looked over at Natsu with furrowed eyebrows.

“Apparently it is a two week stay.”

“Even better!” Natsu grabbed Lucy and wrapped her in a bear hug. Lucy was filled with joy at how excited her best friend sounded to be spending time with her. “We need to finish exploring.” Lucy nodded in agreement, and the two separated.

Lucy and Natsu walked around the floor together. They had a little kitchen, which was adorable. There was food stocked up in the fridge, strawberry cake prominently displayed in the front, and Lucy assumed Erza must have told them what to stock it with. Luckily there was a lot of meat in the freezer and an over all plethora of food. Although, most of it would be gone within the first week.

The bathroom was really nice. Made as a couple’s bathroom, there was a double shower and a large jacuzzi tub next to it. There was a double sink, with female necessities on one side and male necessities on the other. Lucy was called out to the living room by Natsu.

“These chairs are so comfortable Luce!” Lucy had stopped in the doorway. She had to have been dreaming. There was no way that Natsu was shirtless and sitting on the armchair in the living room. Her eyes trailed down her chest and she gulped, her thighs rubbing together again, like they had on the train. Only now, Natsu was aware, and grinning at her deviously. He stretched out further over the chair, raising one of his legs and leaning it bent against the back of the chair, the other propped up over the armrest.

Lucy’s eyes were drawn to the movement and then to where the two legs met. She blushed and looked up from his crotch, to see his eyes trained on her, an undecipherable look on his face. She cleared her throat. “They are huh?”

“Yep.” He held his arm out and gestured for her to walk closer. “Care to join me?”

Lucy had been cautiously walking toward him in confusion. “What do you— Oh!” She was yanked down into his lap and she tensed. “Natsu! Let me go.”

“Nope. You need some warmth. Doctor’s orders.” Lucy looked over at the clock hanging conveniently on the wall over the mantel. It was indeed nearly eight at night, when Wendy said they should begin getting ready for bed so that she could get the heat she needed. Her leg was still healing and so was the rest of her body. Evidently, the guy who had shattered her leg had done it so bad that her hip had dislocated, and even Wendy couldn’t put it back without doing surgery. She said it wouldn’t be so bad if her and Natsu did as she said though, so they have been.

Lucy grinned deviously as she spotted the whirlpool that she had turned on earlier. “Well,” she leaned back to look at him through her lashes. “I think I have a better idea.”

“Food?” Natsu asked, releasing her, and she just rolled her eyes at the obsessed dragon slayer.

Lucy jumped up and ran to her suitcase, grabbing the bikini she had packed. “Nope.” Then she walked into the bathroom without another word, changing into her swimsuit. There was only one problem: the bathroom door didn’t lock.

Natsu barged in just as she was slipping up her bottoms and she Lucy Kicked him. “Natsu! You can’t just barge in on people in the bathroom!”

Natsu was still dizzy from the kick, not fully able to comprehend her lecture, and instead chose to focus on his other senses. Like sight, and damn did he like what he saw. She was in her normal bikini. The one with the flower on one side of the chest. In his opinion it showed way too much skin when she was around others, but he wouldn’t deny that he appreciated the look.

He could already imagine her dripping wet and walking away from him. Her bottoms slinking higher with every step, sticking to her skin. Then a shadow filled his vision and Lucy was there.

“Did you hear anything I said?” She was leaning over him, unknowingly giving him something else to picture later. He slowly shook his head and she just sighed and shook her head. “Get your swimsuit on you idiot.”

“Yes, Lucy.”

He must have said it in a really sad tone, because she turned around from where she had been walking away. “Unless you don’t want to get in with me? Then I’ll just go in by myself.” She huffed and walked away haughtily.

When she was out of earshot, he muttered a quick, “fuck,” before picking himself up off the ground. Sure he had seen her practically drooling over him in the living room, but there was no way she liked him the same way he liked her. She just really liked his body.  _Really,_ really liked his body from the way her eyes had lingered on his crotch.

When Natsu was changed, he finally joined her in the whirlpool. It was really nice, and Natsu was having way too much fun pretending the sheer force of the waves were pushing him into her. The first time they really had; he hadn’t been expecting them to be so strong. He had slid into her, one of his hands coming above the water and landing on her neck, the other on her thigh. He had quickly apologized before sliding away. But a few minutes later he was doing it just for fun. Tickling her as he went along.

They had calmed down, Lucy resting her head on Natsu’s shoulder and his own arm around hers. “So what do you want to do tomorrow?” Her eyes were closed and Natsu was playing with her hair that was over her shoulder.

“Let’s just stay here and relax tomorrow.”

Lucy giggled, opening her eyes and tilting her head to look at Natsu. “For once I was talking about food and you didn’t think about food. And I want to go out to dinner at least.”

“Okay Luce, we’ll go out to dinner, whatever you want.” He was smiling at her in the way that made her heart flutter.

“Let’s go to the restaurant Erza mentioned before she shoved us onto the train.” Natsu’s face turned green and Lucy laughed. “It’s not too far away either, so we would be able to walk there as well.”

Natsu pulled her into a hug, making her laugh harder. “You think of everything Luce!”

“Of course I do Natsu. How else would you and I get along? You think of nothing!”

“ _Oi_.”

A splashing war ensued until Lucy claimed defeat, being dragged over to the freezing pool and thrown in by the fire dragon slayer. She jumped out freezing, and ran into the bathroom, claiming the shower for herself. Not before Natsu was cursing himself for throwing her in the freezing water though, because he could see the effect the cold had on her body. Where she was relaxed and calm from the warm water, the freezing water seemed to make her taut in every way her body could be.

He was twenty-one for Mavis’ sake! Nearly twenty-two!He wasn’t a stranger to his body, nor a woman’s body, but he might as well have been. Natsu knew that he had an attraction towards Lucy, he just didn’t know how sensitive it was. He was very careful in the way he touched her, at least on purpose. On more than one occasion they had been exposed to each other, her more often than him. Somehow, her shirt always seemed to come off during a battle, and he was always the one to see it.

And on more than one of  _those_ occasions he had groped her, and hell yes he had enjoyed it, but of course he pretended to not be bothered or even know what was happening. It was better, he figured out quickly, to just pretend he had no idea why she was embarrassed. It made her go easier on him when she did Lucy Kick him. And Lucy would have kicked him had she known what he had seen before she hurried into the bathroom.

Natsu towel dried himself and then grabbed clothes to change into. Risking the time to change in the room since there was only one room that had a door, and that was the bathroom, where Lucy was. He had just gotten his boxers up and bent over to pull up his shorts when she walked out. He grinned up at her from in between his legs and she stared at him wide eyed, not moving. So, he pulled his shorts up slowly, watching her for as long as he could while doing so. Just before he had to look away, she seemed to realize what she was doing and blushed scarlet, burying her face into her hands.

Natsu smirked to himself at the fact he could fluster her that way. When he turned away he studied her for a moment. She was wearing a skin tight camisole top that made it obvious she wasn’t wearing a bra, and really short shorts. Then he spoke. “I’m done Luce.”

“I’m sorry Natsu. I don’t know what came over me.” She did, but she wasn’t going to tell him that.

“It’s okay. You ready for bed?” She just nodded, sliding under the comforters and waiting for Natsu to follow her, shutting the lights off. He slid under and close to her, wrapping his arm over her waist and dragging her to him.

She turned over in his arms to look at him, although she couldn’t really see anything because of the darkness. But she could tell where she should be looking, because his breath was warm on her face. Her hands came up to rest on his chest, and her left hand traced up to the scar he had on his neck. She huffed, not knowing if he was going to want to talk or just sleep.

It seemed he wanted to just sleep. His breathing evened out even as his arms tightened around her. Lucy let out a deep breath before leaning in and pressing a light kiss to his neck, which was the only place she could reach at the moment. “Thank you Natsu.”

Natsu mumbled in his sleep shifting closer to her and she turned over before he could completely trap her, and drifted off to sleep with his warmth surrounding her.

—

Natsu woke to Lucy facing him and his arm under her head like a pillow. Her right arm was underneath that arm, holding it in place. He had somehow ended up on top of the comforters instead of under them, and his left leg was laying over top of Lucy’s hips. Her left arm was up, tangled in his scarf and resting over his scar on his neck.

“Lucy?” She twisted in her sleep and grabbed at his neck, making a face. Her hand flipped and caught on his scarf and Natsu watched as she brought part of it to her face, relaxing as she breathed in. It seemed that familiar smells calmed her down just as much as it did him. She hummed in content until she tried to shuffle closer to him and she couldn’t get any. Natsu lifted the covers and slid under, and Lucy immediately threw her leg over his. She squirmed, trying to get comfortable and finally settled half over top of him. Her knee was up a little too close for comfort, and one jump from her and he would be out of commission for a while.

His left arm was freed and he slung it over her back. Natsu used his right hand to play with her hair, running it through the silkiness. “Natsu…” She moaned lightly. Her hips twisted a tiny bit, more of a twitch than anything, and Natsu tried to very carefully slide her off of him. She gripped onto his scarf and he carefully shrugged it off. He was going to bathe anyway, he wouldn’t need it.

Lucy curled around his scarf in a ball, holding it close to her chest.  _Not again_. She thought.  _He can’t be gone again._ Her eyes slowly blinked open and she looked at the piece of cloth she held in her hands. Nothing else was there, just the cloth. The rest of her surroundings faded away and she stared at the scarf blankly. Lucy knew he was here, she could hear the water running in the background for Mavis’ sake, but she couldn’t help but feel the memory take over her.

She felt as though he had disappeared on her again, and tears began to stream down her face. It couldn’t have been more than ten minutes Natsu was in the shower, but she was already bawling over the scarf. Just as Natsu hated to leave her, she had the same feeling. Both were afraid to lose the other, and it showed in how they reacted to and with each other.

Suddenly strong arms were wrapped around her frame and Lucy’s sobs increased. “Luce? What’s wrong?” There was clear panic in Natsu’s voice as he watched Lucy break down in front of him. “What happened? Tell me.”

“I— You— Your scarf, but not you and—”

“Shh, okay I get it.” Natsu’s voice was soothing and Lucy began to calm down.

“Why weren’t you here?”

“I was getting a shower.” Lucy looked up to see him in just a towel. “I got out as soon as I heard you crying. I’m sorry. You wouldn’t let me get up, but then I gave you my scarf and you were fine, so I figured it would be okay while I was in the shower.”

“You know you should wake me up Natsu.” He nodded and leaned forward pressing a kiss to her forehead and then leaning his own against it.

“I’m sorry.”

“I was so scared Natsu.”

“I know.” And he did. He had to go through the same thing just as many times as she had, the fear of losing their parter. “I don’t ever wanna lose you Luce.”

She hummed before replying. “And I don’t ever wanna lose you dragon. After all, you’re supposed to protect me.”

His grin graced his face as she donned his scarf around his neck. Forgetting he was in a towel, he pulled her onto his lap. He put his head on her shoulder and she ran a hand through his damp hair. Her heart beat was calming at the smell and feel of Natsu. She leaned down and pressed a kiss to his shoulder, and he tensed for a moment before relaxing and doing the same to her.

They stayed like that until long after the sun rose.


	5. Day 4: Fashion

 

“You are not wearing that!”

“Then I’m not wearing anything!”

“Dragneel!”

“Lucy!”

Lucy put a hand up to her face in exasperation. “Natsu I will dress you myself if I have to, but this is a fancy restaurant and you  _are not wearing your normal attire_!”

Natsu harrumphed before turning away, pouting. “Well, I don’t have anything nice.” He grinned and turned around to see Lucy’s defeated look. But instead, she had on a smirk, and his grin fell. He did not like that look. Did not like it at all.

—

Turned out he should have run, they both should have. Lucy had called Virgo, and the maid spirit had dressed them. Lucy, was once again wearing her suitor’s ball dress, which was once again, fixed. Virgo said something about the third time being the charm. Lucy blushed and shook her head furiously at the spirit, telling her that there was no way she would get anything from the dress that time.

Natsu just thought it was weird, but then it had been his turn. The stupid spirit, Mavis forbid she hears him call her that or he will be punished, had dressed him overboard. He was dressed like a fucking prince. He was  _not_ even close to a prince.

Lucy was tilting her head from side to side, inspecting the outfit. It was a black overcoat, not too different from the one he always wore. The only difference was that it had two sleeves instead of just one. He had on a red undershirt and then pants tucked into boots. His piercing in his ear shimmered. Yes, Gajeel had given Natsu a few piercings, although, according to Natsu, she wouldn’t be able to see all of them. Whatever that meant.

“Pirate captain.”

“What?” Natsu looked at her incredulously.

“You could be a pirate captain. You said you didn’t like that you looked like a prince. Although I don’t think you look like any normal prince, but a dragon prince.”

Natsu grinned at her and Lucy’s blood rushed. Virgo had put them in matching outfits of course. His undershirt matched her accents, and his accents matched her hair. Oh, and don’t forget that her dress matched his hair. Lucy’s smile creeped across her face. Her hair was done partly up with most of it down. Cancer had put elaborate jewels in the small bun that was on the back of her head made by the two small side braids that began at her temple and went to the middle of the back of her head. Her make up on the other hand was just a light mascara and a simple swipe of pink eyeshadow, followed by a dab of gloss on her lips.

Natsu’s hair was normal, and he had his scarf looped around his pants like a belt. “A dragon prince or a pirate captain, I think I like those options.” Lucy laughed at him and he wrapped her in a hug. The two held each other for a moment before pulling away. Natsu had lingered a moment, taking in her scent.

“You have to be hungry.” He pulled back, and Lucy shivered. There was indeed hunger in his eyes, but it was a more basic kind of hunger, laced with need. His hands tightened on her waist and she grimaced, the light touches gone and a determined push replaced instead. “Natsu?”

He shook his head and the look cleared, his hands loosened and he blinked at her. “Yeah, food.” Lucy laughed, nodding and gently turned in his hands so that one of his arms was resting on her hip and across her back. The other hand fell to his side and he grinned at her. “All right!” His hand clenched, “I’m all fired up now!”

Lucy laughed and the two began walking down the stairs. “What time was our reservation?”

“Last you told me it was at eight.”

“And it’s only six now.” Lucy’s right hand tapped on the back of his hand in aimless thought. “Wanna just walk around a bit?”

“Yeah, that sounds good.” He was more focused on the feeling of her hand against his as they walked. She had laced her fingers through his spread ones thoughtlessly. He lightly made a step into her and pulled her into his side. She giggled.

The stairs were not too difficult since Lucy had gone for the flats that Virgo presented instead of the heels. They were like ballet slippers, and Lucy was glad they looked good on her. Lucy looked around them, seeing a couple in a fight, it didn’t look to be going well for either partner, and she frowned. “Hey Natsu?”

“Hmm?”

“We’ll always be friends right?” She worried her bottom lip when he didn’t answer and his brows furrowed.

“What brought that on?”

Lucy realized what she had been thinking. That the two would end up together and if they broke up… “Nothing, never mind.” Natsu looked at her and followed her line of sight to the fighting couple. His mouth made an ‘o’ shape and he shouldered Lucy lightly until she looked up at him. His eyes went to the lip she was biting at desperately. He wanted to tell her that if she didn’t stop that then he would bite her lips for her, but that wasn’t the best thing to say to someone he was ‘just friends’ with.

Natsu chuckled nervously. “You mean if we got into a really bad fight?” Lucy frowned, but nodded, deciding it was better for her to pretend that was what she meant. “Of course we’ll still be friends.”

“But what if it’s so bad that it hurts one of us? Still?”

Natsu pulled her into the side hug. “Yes.” Lucy was still frowning, but she nodded, taking his answer in. She didn’t want to lose her best friend, even if something tore them apart, she would fight tooth and nail to get him back, and she would  _never_ leave him behind. Lucy’s hand tightened where she gripped his and she took in a deep breath before nodding decidedly.

The two walked out of the lobby and turned to follow the sidewalk. Her eyes roaming again. There were a lot of romantic scenes and shops around them. She landed on one couple who were practically naked in the street and blushed heavily. Her eyes moved on and she spotted a flower stand. She tugged Natsu over to the woman selling the flowers and stopped in front of it. She saw a lovely pink orchid and reached out, lightly touching the flower.

“Ah, you have quite the eye little miss.”

Lucy smiled sheepishly. “They were my mother’s favorite.”

The woman frowned and then reached out, taking the single orchid and snipping it before sliding it into Lucy’s hair, right through the bun. “For the beautiful princess and her dragon prince.” Natsu smiled at the woman brightly, the grin making Lucy forget how to breathe.

“Thank you. I really do appreciate it. How much for the flower?”

“No, it’s free for you sweetheart.” Lucy smiled thankfully, tears filling her eyes and she wiped at them, with a gloved finger, the spot turning darker from the tear.

The two continued on, and it wasn’t until Lucy reached her left hand out to point at something that Natsu noticed. There, on her ring finger, lay the ring he made for her, prominent over the red fabric of her gloves. He slid his hand down her arm, stopping to play with the ring before he had encircled her in front of him with his arms. This woman was going to be the death of him.

Their matching necklaces glinted in the sunset, and Natsu smiled sweetly, realizing that if this moment could last forever, he would want it to. But Lucy’s eyes caught on a store and she grinned at him deviously. The same grin from earlier. She dragged him inside and he realized it was a clothing store. Immediately Lucy began to grab different pieces of fabric and throw them at him, until finally she decided that he had enough for the moment. Then, she pushed him into the dressing room.

He knew she wanted him to try them on, so he stripped out of his current clothing, carefully laying them across the chair in there before looking back at the pile that had been shoved at him. He realized then, that there were only pants, and he didn’t want to put the shirt back on, so he just shrugged.

He slipped the first pair on, not liking how tight they were, but knowing Lucy would scold him if he didn’t show her every single thing. So, he slid open the curtain and stepped out. Lucy’s back was turned to him, looking at a few shirts on the discarded rack. Natsu snuck up behind her and picked her up, spinning her around. The girl squealed with laughter as Natsu set him down.

The smile that was on her face froze when she saw him. She knew he would look good in jeans, but damn. It also helped that he didn’t have a shirt on. Without her permission, her hand reached out, resting on his chest, over where the protection charm her father had given them lay. She felt him tense, but couldn’t move, her hand slightly wrapping around the necklace before releasing it. The waistbands sunk low and Lucy’s hand trailed down, gripping his waistband and tugging up lightly. Then she stepped away, shaking her head before inspecting him.

The jeans rested just under his hipbones, and she could see they were a little uncomfortable for him from the way he kept shifting. Or, maybe it was the way that her gaze kept lingering on a particular area. She noticed a sofa chair and pointed at it. “Sit.”

He did as he was told, confused, but realizing immediately, that if he sat, the friction was too much, so he stood up, shook his head, and walked back into the dressing room. Lucy watched as he walked away, half tempted to scream out and tell him how good his ass looked, but decided she was better off without it.

The next time he came out he was talking and her eyes caught sight of the ball piercing on his tongue. He waved his hands in front of her face and she blinked. “Sorry, what?”

“I—” Her mind blanked again, watching how the piercing would catch on his teeth sometimes, or when he liked his lips and it skimmed over them.

“Yeah, I’m having— Turn around and repeat that please.” Natsu did as told, a confused look on his face.

“I said, these are nicer than the other ones, and why are you having me try on all of these to begin with? I don’t need any new bottoms.”

Lucy laughed, making him turn around again. “You are trying them on because I want to see you in something other than your normal sweats. You look really good in the pair of slacks you are wearing today, so I wanted to see something else on you.” She grinned at him, her attention on his eyes again. “Besides, you are  _never_ going to get a girl in just sweats.” She put a finger to her lip, unknowingly drawing Natsu’s attention to them. “Well, if you were in  _just_ sweats maybe. But that is beside the point.”

Lucy watched as Natsu nodded, not quite certain what she meant. He turned around and went back into the dressing room. He thought it was hilarious how often he found Lucy staring at the piercings that metal face had given to him. His cousin was very good at that, and Natsu and Gajeel both had heard Lucy and Levy talking about how much piercings were attractive. Gajeel made Natsu buy him a large expensive dinner after one  _particular_ piercing that hurt like hell, but beside that one, which Gajeel had many in that particular area if he heard the conversations Lucy and Levy had over the phone correctly, they were relatively low pain.

When he had first gotten them Lucy had freaked. She had inspected as much of him as she could without removing his clothes. He only had a total of six piercings, and five were on his face. So far though, it seemed Lucy was intrigued at where he could have other piercings. He grinned at the thought of her seeing his other piercing, although it would never happen, not in this lifetime at least.

He slid up his pants and walked out again, watching as her eyes trailed down his body. He wanted another reaction like the first two, but these were looser, and apparently just didn’t do the same thing for her. Right, he took note that tight pants were a turn on for her.

“Next.” She said, handing him another pile of clothing. These one’s shirts, probably annoyed he was walking around shirtless.

Her eyes widened when he walked out next. Natsu had on a shirt that was pulled taut on him. It was a t-shirt, something he rarely, if ever, wore. Black with a pattern of flames at the bottom, covering his waist. Lucy had to stop picking out things that would make him look good or they would never make their reservation. It was already nearly seven.

“Okay, let’s just— Did you want any of those? I’ll buy.” She would buy if he wanted something because he made her have fantasies just by walking in those damn jeans, and all she could think about was wearing that shirt with nothing underneath it.

“The first two pairs of jeans and this shirt.” He grinned at her knowingly and she blushed, watching as he turned and got changed. When he came back out, he had the three items and they went to the registers to buy the clothing. Lucy was true to her word, and bought the clothing, thankful there was a deal on the jeans.

The man commented on how nice the two looked and told them to have fun. Natsu and Lucy grinned. Natsu put his arm around Lucy again, her hand lacing with his as well. His left hand held the bag and the two walked out of the shop. “So did you actually like the clothes or were you just humoring me?”

“I definitely like the shirt.” Like Lucy, he had thoughts of seeing her in just the shirt, but neither of them would tell each other of their less than decent thoughts. Although the entirety of why Natsu got the piercings was because of less than decent thoughts of his best friend, for which he would certainly go straight to hell. “The jeans were just to humor you, but I will still wear them. Just for you.” He grinned at her and her hand tightened over his in appreciation that he wasn’t just going to waste the money.

As the two walked around for another half-hour Lucy was less aware of her surroundings and more aware of how her and Natsu laughed and talked together. One lady even came up to them, asking them how long they had been together. Natsu grinned at the woman. “Since we were children.”

Lucy burst out laughing. “That’s not what she meant Natsu.” She turned to the woman, smiling kindly. “We actually aren’t together like that. We’ve been best friends since we were children though.”

The woman smiled at them. “Well, you two should go out, you are adorable together.” The woman walked away from them without another word and Lucy stepped out of Natsu’s arms embarrassed.

“Let’s get to dinner.” She said walking ahead of him and ignoring when vendors on the street called out to her, attempting to get her to pay attention to them. She just wanted to get to dinner, something the two could enjoy together,  _as friends_. She really needed to squash the feelings she had for him and fast. Before she did something stupid.

—

The two were led to a table and sat down, the menus placed in front of them. The host eyed Natsu skeptically, but Lucy gripped Natsu’s arm and had him sit down. Natsu kept looking at her with a concerned look as he had  _no idea_  what was what on the menu.

It was an extremely fancy restaurant and Lucy was grateful it was covered by the hotel, because there was no way she would have been able to afford the food. Especially not with the way Natsu ate.

“Can I get you anything to drink sir?” Lucy looked up at the sound of a female’s voice. A very familiar red-head stood there and Lucy’s heart sank.  _Perfect, because this is what we need_.

“Flare?” Natsu asked in confusion, and then a smile lit his face. “Hey! How’s it been?”

“Fine. I see you are still caring for Lucy like a good dog.”

Lucy snarled, her lips pulled into a line. “He isn’t a  _dog_.”

“Yeah, I know, he’s a puppy.”

“No. He’s a dragon. Get that through your thick head of nothing would you?” Lucy really could have done better if a, she hadn’t had to deal with Natsu’s ex, or b, they weren’t in such a fancy restaurant.

Flare turned around, rolling her eyes. “Whatever, I’m going to get someone else to serve you, I can’t afford to lose my job.”

Natsu just sat there, watching the girls fight. Where the males did it with fists instead of words, females seemed keen on sharpening their tongues with every lash. He never did understand.

A smell drifted to him and he had the urge to grab the necklace he had on, so he did. His body calmed down at the feeling of something Lucy gave to him, and he lightly scooted forward in his chair, putting his knee in between Lucy’s. She looked at him and calmed down, her right hand going to her left, playing with the ring she had on her finger.

“And Lucy,” Flare looked over her shoulder at the blonde. “Just because you have him now, doesn’t mean you will forever. The heart can be swayed.” A creepy grin crossed her face as she turned around and walked away, one that made Natsu wonder why he had ever been with the girl in the first place. He looked over to Lucy, not happy to see that she was looking down at the menu in front of her and he could smell saltwater coming from her.

Lucy knew that Natsu wasn’t hers, that he wouldn’t be. She didn’t understand why  _he_ didn’t get that. Why did he have to go and say such sweet things like he did? You can’t just put someone else above your lover. That isn’t how it worked, at least not the way Natsu put her above everyone else. It would be different if he didn’t always go to her first, then someone else. But he didn’t.

Her hands made a fist and she stood, gulping back a sob and looking at Natsu. “I will be right back. If the server comes, tell them I would just like a water with lemon please.” She was getting ready to turn away when she looked at Natsu. “Do you know what you want to drink?”

Natsu nodded and so she hurried off to the bathroom. At least, he assumed she went to the bathroom. He had looked back down at the menu, trying to decipher what all of the food was. There was a loud scratch as the chair pulled back and Natsu looked up to see Lucy back.

“Sorry about that.” Natsu looked at her confused at what she had to be sorry for. “Has the server—”

“Hello. What would you two like to drink?”

“I’ll take a water with lemon please.” Lucy answered, smiling sweetly at the new woman. She seemed kind enough, but Lucy was uncertain.

“And you sir?” Natsu looked up dazed.

“Huh?”

“To drink.”

“Oh.” Natsu grinned. “I’ll take a fireball and a water with lemon please.” When he looked at Lucy mischievously a grin slowly creeped across her face.

The waitress left and Lucy watched as Natsu leaned in conspiratorially. “Alright, so what the hell does any of this mean?”

“How about I just order for you?” Natsu nodded, trusting Lucy to order him a lot of food. And when the waitress came back, she did order a  _lot_ of food.

—

Lucy grinned as she watched Natsu’s face light up when the food came out. She had ordered everything she thought he would like, and a single dish for herself. The waitress had looked at the skinny blonde in concern but said nothing. Lucy just laughed when Natsu dug in. At least food wasn’t flying everywhere. He was actually making an effort to eat cleanly. She knew he would pass out the moment they got back to the hotel, and with the way he was eating she may have to roll him back.

In front of her sat a single dish of pasta, which she had ordered another of for Natsu so he wouldn’t steal any of hers. She watched as he ate all of the spicy things first, then took to eating the less spicy things. He had eaten all of the food she had ordered and was patting his stomach fondly while she still had a little bit of pasta left. He sat and watched her eat, smiling whenever their eyes would meet.

“Where do you keep all of it?” Natsu just grinned at her usual question.

“It’s all in the fire power. Makes me all fired up!” Lucy giggled at him as she finished, laying down two hundred jewels for a tip. She knew their food had to cost upwards of four thousand, so it seemed only fair. She stood up, and Natsu followed her, humming happily and rubbing his stomach. Natsu had grabbed her hand, dragging her to the hotel, and then telling her he wanted to play.

“What do you mean Natsu?” She asked curiously, stepping down from the bed she was climbing onto.

“Let’s go in the whirlpool again.” Lucy nodded, and the two changed, separately of course. Natsu told Lucy when he was done, but she didn’t come out until a minute later, in the same suit from last night. The two stepped into the whirlpool that had been turned on and Lucy sighed.

Natsu reached out and grabbed the necklace that was around her neck, sinking down to study it. He knew his father made the pieces, and still hated himself for the time when he had let Lucy get hurt. As if she knew what he was thinking she lightly raised his chin.

“It was  _not_ your fault Natsu.”

“But if I hadn’t been with Flare…” He trailed off, not knowing what to say, and Lucy tilted her head.

“There is a lot of ‘if only’s’ in life Natsu. Ignore them, or else they will only drag you down.” With that, she leaned in, kissing the three piercings right over his right eyebrow. One was a pink gem, another gold, and the last blue. When Lucy had asked why there were those colors, he said it represented the team: Natsu, Lucy, and Happy. She leaned back, away from him, and the chain slid through his fingers as she leaned back against the other side of the pool. Her head fell back and she sighed. “Thank you Natsu.”

“For what?”

“Nothing, everything, you decide.” Her eyes were closed and she had a light smile on her lips.

“Hey Luce?” She hummed in response. “You never did tell me, why did your father give you these?”

Her eyes shot open and she sat up, looking at the necklace he had his fist wrapped around. She hadn’t told him, and maybe it was about time she had.

 


	6. Day 5: History

Lucy looked at Natsu and first simply said, “protection.” Her eyes fluttered shut again as she continued. “The moment the necklace was on you, it would make any curse, spell, or charm null. I was surprised it worked.”

“What do you mean?” Lucy didn’t open her eyes, just laid there and bit her bottom lip in thought.

“I’ll get to that. These were actually something your father made for my mother and father as their wedding present. My father got them redone for my birthday and thought that you and I could wear them. I think it was his way of telling me that he’s sorry and he doesn’t hate you.” She didn’t say what she really thought, that it was his way of telling her he approved of them together.

“He made sure that my mom’s had a star added to it, for me, and that his had flames added for you. They’ve protected both of us multiple times while we were in battles. However, I already had a protection charm that I always wore.”

“But you didn’t really wear any jewelry except your mother’s earrings.” Lucy reached up, her eyes opening as she played with the little heart earrings.

“That’s not true. But you didn’t even know it was a protection charm, and there was no way I could’ve. You’re father told me the last time I was there.”

_Lucy pulled out her ring, looking at it in confusion while Igneel nodded, smiling. “Good.”_

_“Why is it important that I have it?”_

_Igneel turned in the chair, grinning at his child’s best friend. “When Natsu made that for you, he was still learning how to control his magic, and he accidentally put too much energy in your ring. Now, that isn’t a bad thing, because all of the energy is his love for you, so it became a kind of protection charm, keeping you from any ailments that would change your fundamental being.”_

_“What does that mean?”_

_“It means, that no matter what was going on around you, even if someone tried to take you from yourself, they couldn’t because you were protected. You were able to avoid getting sucked into some pretty damaging situations, and I mean mentally, not physically. Because of that, you always were able to keep your team in their heads right?”_

_“I guess, so basically I can’t be turned against them?”_

_“No. It’s not that. It’s more that you can not be changed from your core values. You will not be able to just disappear on your friends because of the loyalty inside yourself. You will fight to the last breath for your friends because you trust them and know they would do the same. Because of your morals, you are able to stand strong, and that ring, makes it so that you can stay true to yourself.”_

“You wore my ring the entire time?”

Lucy nodded, “even after you looked at it weird, I just put it under my shirt on a chain. I couldn’t bear to part with it.”

“Yeah, Flare had seen it and asked what it was, and I told her I made it for you, and she was jealous because I never made anything for her.”

Lucy looked at Natsu. “You didn’t really talk to me when you were with her. Do you know why that is?”

Natsu frowned. “Because she was my girlfriend, you’re supposed to pay attention to your lover right?”

Lucy nodded but raised her eyebrows. “But when I was hurt you broke up with her so that you could take care of me. Do you remember?”

“Yeah, you always come first.”

“You’re contradicting yourself Natsu. I want to know, what changed?”

“I don’t know.”

“You put the necklace on.” She had swum closer to him, and now had her hand holding his necklace. “You put the necklace on, and whatever spell or charm or curse she had on you broke. I saw you do the same thing today at dinner, when Flare and I were fighting. You gripped the necklace and then leaned into me.”

“Yeah, I smelled something weird. I knew I needed to hold the necklace and then I wanted to get closer to you, to make sure you were okay.”

“I know.” Her hand came up to cup his cheek. “You were able to tell there was a spell and avoid it.”

“But Flare didn’t have me under a spell when we were dating.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Lucy frowned and tried to sit down next to him, but his hands had gone to her hips and made her straddle him. “How many times did you kick me out of the house?”

“Once.”

“Wrong.”

“No it was once. The day we were supposed to go on the mission.”

“Natsu,” his hands tightened on her hips as his eyes held panic. Her thumb stroked his cheek. “It was at least fifteen, I stopped counting after ten though. It was that day that was the last straw though, that was when I decided that I was leaving.”

Tears entered her eyes as Natsu croaked out a soft, “why?”

“Because, Natsu; that was my birthday, and the first thing you told me was that I couldn’t go home. In fact, only three people told me happy birthday all day. Happy when I woke up because he made me breakfast, your father, and my father.” Natsu looked at her with horror in his eyes.

“No. I wouldn’t have missed your birthday. Luce, I wouldn’t have.” He buried his head in her neck and she felt a tear trail down her cheek.

“I know Natsu. But you were spelled or something, and I was hurting because I was the only one besides Erza and Happy who could see that there was something wrong, so I didn’t notice  _what_ was wrong.” His lips touched the inside of her shoulder and the heat was noticeable when he talked into her shoulder.

“Even then. Luce, fuck I’m so sorry, and on your birthday. Shit.”

He peppered kisses over her shoulder in apology and Lucy froze, looking straight ahead. She was afraid that if she moved she would do something she would regret. His voice was husky in her ear when he spoke next.

“I don’t think the protection charm is working anymore Luce.”

Her voice was concerned, but she didn’t move. “Why?”

“Because, whatever spell you put on me isn’t breaking.”

She looked down fast, nearly hitting heads with him. “ _What?_ ” She had no idea what he meant, her head swimming with desire at the way he was looking at her. Lucy couldn’t comprehend what he said next.

“I mean I’ve wanted to kiss you forever, and I got these piercings for you, and one some place else that hurt like hell. Fuck, I can’t stop thinking about you Luce.”

There was one thing she got caught on. “You got pierced… for me?”

“Yeah. I heard you talking to Levy on the phone one night about how much of a turn on they are, so I talked to Gajeel and he helped me out.” Natsu was watching Lucy nervously, the awe in her eyes confusing him, uncertain what it meant. Suddenly Lucy leaned down, kissing each one of the piercings above his right eye brow separately, then moving to the one in his left ear before kissing his lips. Her tongue slid in his mouth and Natsu pushed back, sweeping into her mouth and listening to the moans she gave as he explored, his piercing clacking against her teeth. His hands were gripping her waist hard and hers were lightly raking through his hair.

Lucy pulled back and his hands released her. “No, we can’t do this Natsu.” She turned to the stairs, getting ready to leave, but Natsu grabbed her wrist and held her there. He didn’t pull her back, but he didn’t let her go either.

“What did I do wrong Lucy?” She looked over her shoulder confused. Natsu’s eyes were covered by his hair, a shadow crossing his face. She wanted to tell him that he did nothing wrong, but that wasn’t true. Her throat closed up and she turned back around.

“I’m not sure.” She couldn’t tell him that she was upset because of how he had forgotten about her when she was under Flare’s spell. She couldn’t even say that she was upset about dinner that night, because in all honesty, she wasn’t upset with him. He was doing what he did best, ignoring the problem.

His arms went around her. “I’m sorry Lucy. I didn’t mean to hurt you.” Her mind travelled elsewhere, to another time, when someone else had said the same words.

“You didn’t.” With that, she walked away, leaving Natsu wondering after her questioningly.

—

Natsu was uncertain about the events from the day before. They had kissed, and she had initiated it, but then she told him no. He didn’t understand why she said no, but he wasn’t going to push too hard. He had asked yesterday, and he would ask again today. If she still didn’t reply, then he would leave it alone.

Lucy was in the shower, getting ready for the day, even though they had both agreed to just stay in the room. They were going to play board games or go swimming or something.

“Hey Natsu?”

“Yeah Luce?”

“What do you want to play first?” She had gotten out and gone over to the stack of games near the coffee table.

“Let’s do a puzzle!” Natsu walked over and chose a puzzle at random. It showed the resort they were staying in.

Lucy grinned at his choice, settling down. “Say Natsu?”

“What?”

“When did you join Fairy Tail?”

Natsu looked up, thinking about her question before he realized the answer. “I was about twelve. Dad said I should go explore. That’s why I was gone for months at a time sometimes.”

“Oh.” Lucy had nothing else to say, not really sure why she wanted to know in the first place. Maybe just so that she knew another small part of him.

Natsu looked up from where he had been dumping all of the puzzle pieces onto the table. “Luce?”

“Yeah?”

“Why did you stop yesterday?”

Lucy looked like she had seen a ghost. She turned to him slowly. “To be honest, I couldn’t get Flare out of my head and…” She stopped, unsure how to explain it. “I guess I just didn’t want to think about that.”

“Oh.” Natsu didn’t really understand that, but had a feeling it was something like when he was jealous at Lucy’s ball. Natsu shivered. He  _really_ had no clue what made him start dating Flare, or when they even started dating. He wondered if the entire relationship had truly been a spell.

“Don’t think so hard Natsu.” A breathy laugh escaped both of them before Natsu looked up. Lucy was still standing and Natsu grinned. The outfit she had on was the one she had worn when they had gone to Magnolia the first time. But that wasn’t why he grinned. He grinned because he could see her stomach.

Lucy saw the glint in his eyes. “Natsu, no.” But Natsu didn’t listen, jumping up and grabbing her waist before tickling her. Lucy squealed, trying to kick him off of her when he pushed her onto the couch. “Off, off, off!” Her hands pushed at his face, but he was just laughing. “Stop, I can’t breathe.” Her voice was coming in between her laughter and Natsu pulled back slightly, only for Lucy to kick him off and start tickling him.

Not that he was ticklish, so there was no point. He lay there, silently laughing at her antics and raised an eyebrow at her. Lucy took note happily that he was wearing the clothes she had bought for him. She grinned at him.

“You’re adorable.” Lucy laughed when Natsu made a face.

“I’m not adorable.” His face made a pout and Lucy started playing with his cheeks.

“Yes you are. You’re my adorable little Natsu.”

“ _Lucy_.” He whined.

“Such an adorable little Natsu you are. Yes you are.”

“You’re incorrigible.”

“Ooh, big word for you.” Natsu opened his mouth as though he were going to yell at her before turning his head and snapping his teeth at her hands in a pretend bite.

“I know big words. Because you teach me them.”

Lucy laughed and shook her head. “Yeah. I do, don’t I. At least I’m not like Erza was when she was teaching you right?”

Natsu shuddered. “She’s scary.”

“Speaking of her, we still have some strawberry cake left. Care to have some?” Natsu nodded eagerly, his stomach growling.

“We should go down and have some breakfast. I’m starved.”

Lucy rolled her eyes at him. “You’re always starved Natsu.”

“Exactly.”

—

Lucy had been right, most of the food had been gone within the first week, but all of it was gone by the second day of the second week.

“What the hell Natsu?” Lucy exclaimed when she opened the fridge. He had eaten her chocolate and she was craving it.

Natsu came in behind her, slinging his arm around her shoulder. “What’s up Luce.”

“My chocolate.”

In fact, he was  _currently_ eating it. He offered her a bite of the bar and she grabbed it from him. “Hey, I was eating that.”

“It was  _mine_ not yours. Idiot.”

“ _Oi!_ ” He always hated when she called him that snidely and not with a loving tone.

“Well, don’t eat what’s not yours.”

“But  _Luce_ , I’m so hungry.”

“Go away.” She had walked them back out to the living room and picked her book up from where she had left it on the couch. She propped her knees up, and laid the book on it, deciding to read some more, but Natsu sat down next to her feel and started drawing patterns on her legs. “What are you doing?”

“Trying to make you feel better.” Natsu grinned sheepishly at her and she rolled her eyes, a smile gracing her face. “Hey Luce?”

“Yeah Natsu?”

“Let’s dance.”

“What?” She had the radio playing in the background and a song that Natsu knew came on.

“Yeah, let’s dance. Please?” He put her bookmark in her book before gently taking it from her, carefully watching her for any signs she was mad. But she just looked confused. He grabbed her hand and helped her up off the couch. Her hand stayed in his and he started swaying. The song playing was a slow one, surprising Lucy. But Natsu and her just swayed to it until the next one came on and he grinned brightly at her.

He spun her around once before leaning in. “ _You don’t know how you met me, you don’t know why you can’t turn around and say goodbye. All you know is when I’m with you I make you free and swim through your veins like a fish in the sea. I’m singing—”_

Lucy took over and the two were laughing together and spinning around each other. “ _Follow me, everything is all right.”_

_“I’ll be the one to tuck you in at night. And if you want to leave I can guarantee you won’t find nobody else like me.”_

Lucy laughed as the two jumped towards each other skipping a verse. It was a fun kind of dancing and free.  _“I’m singing, follow me, everything is all right.”_

_“I’ll be the one to tuck you in at night. And if you want to leave I can guarantee you won’t find nobody else like me.”_ Natsu paused, pretending to play the guitar solo. Lucy giggled and she jumped on his back as he spun around. He helped her down before singing again.  _“Won’t give you money, I can’t give you the sky, you’re better off if you don’t ask why.”_ Natsu laughed at her as Lucy grinned at him.  _“Don’t know how you met me, you don’t know why you can’t turn around and say goodbye. All you know is when I’m with you I make you free and swim through your veins like a fish in the sea.”_

Lucy joined this time, and they sung together, their hands laced in front of them.  _“I’m singing, follow me, everything is all right. I’ll be the one to tuck you in at night. And if you want to leave I can guarantee you won’t find nobody else like me.”_  Lucy joined Natsu in his laughter and the two spun in circles around the living room. The two both knew that the pieces they sang rang true for each other, both knowing that in the end, they had each other.

“I’m sorry Luce.”

She tilted her head. “For what?”

“Flare. I can’t even remember when or why we started dating.” Lucy looked at Natsu concerned and then her face softened into understanding.

“It was a spell from the beginning Natsu. You will probably only remember the last bit, when you started to come out of it.”

“I know, but I still hurt you. Emotionally, and you ended up getting hurt physically because of me. Luce, I hate myself for it.”

Her hand came up and she touched his cheek lightly. “Don’t. I don’t want you to hate yourself for something like that. I want you to be my carefree and protective dragon.”

His smile was back, as it was every time she used that nickname on him. “I will always protect you my princess.”

 


	7. Day 6: Letters

Lucy and Natsu were greeted with a startling cry from Happy just before he barreled into Lucy, hugging her tightly. Everyone else in the guild made a surprised noise at their arrival, but they all seemed happy to see them nonetheless, especially after they were gone for so long.  _Really,_ Lucy would later say to her team,  _it was only two weeks._  Natsu was immediately pulled into a fight with Gray, of course and Lucy walked over to the bar, where Mira was wiping down some drinking glasses. She always seemed to be conveniently behind the bar when they returned from a mission or other excursion, other times walking around the guild with purpose in her dainty strides.

“How was your vacation time Lu?” Levy had walked up beside her and took a seat at the ledge, eager to hear about the celestial mage’s vacation with her partner.

“Emotional.” Lucy claimed, sitting down and settling a hand to her forehead, trying to rub any of the worry wrinkles out that Natsu may have caused.

“Emotional?” Cana jumped in, pausing her swig from the barrel of alcohol, and then grinned, waggling her eyebrows at the blonde. “Did you and Natsu ‘heat it up’?”

Lucy blushed at the implication and shook her head, Levy looking at her in confusion. “What happened to make it emotional then?”

“Well, on the second night we went out to a really nice dinner, and Flare ended up being our server.” Erza, Mira, Levy, and Cana all blinked with wide eyes. Everyone had been made aware that they had been spelled by Flare, although, apparently Natsu had not been at the guild when Loke had explained. “She was practically civil, but we got into a fight.”

“Physical?” Erza, who had been eating the strawberry cake Lucy had brought back for her, asked with concern. More than likely afraid she would have to be on damage control.

“No, you know me better than that Erza. A fight of words. She just was being so rude to Natsu, and I couldn’t let her get away with it, even though he was doing nothing about it. Although, he probably had no idea that he was being insulted at all. It didn’t help that he didn’t know he had been spelled before.” Lucy looked at the bar as Mira placed a glass of water in front of her, taking a sip of the liquid before rushing out the rest. “And then I explained everything to him and we kind of kissed.”

“So you  _were_  heating it up.” A sly grin crossed Cana’s face and Lucy waved her hands in the air with desperation.

“No! It was  _just_  one kiss.”

Cana’s grin grew, not even caring about the blonde’s reservations. “But I bet you wanted it to be more that  _just_ one kiss.”

“No!” At the stern but knowing look Cana gave her Lucy grumbled. “Okay, maybe I did. But so what? It can’t happen!  _We_  can’t happen!” Now Levy looked at her sharply and Lucy breathed out a sigh.

“And pray tell, why not?”

“Because— Well, because I— I don’t know!”

“Exactly, come on Lu, you read those books too. I know you did.” Levy put a hand on her friends arm, trying to settle her. “And the best friend  _always_  becomes the lover.”

“Not true. Sometimes, they become the one’s left behind. Levy, the way Natsu and I are—” There was a twinkle in the blue mage’s eyes as Lucy realized something. “You  _knew_.”

Levy giggled and Cana looked at her. “She knew what?” Erza was also looking at her curiously.

Levy giggled before ousting her friend. “Natsu’s piercings, he got them because of a conversation he overheard me and Lu having one day.”

Cana raised her eyebrows. “Oh?”

“Yeah,” Levy was totally throwing Lucy under the bus. “I was telling her about how I thought Gajeel’s piercings got in the way sometimes or were just plain odd. And then Lu goes on to give me a detailed explanation to why piercings are great.” Levy was grinning at Lucy’s blushing face.

“Yeah, I bet they were kinky too huh?” Cana had walked over to Lucy and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

“Oh my god, you guys stop.” Lucy was as red as Erza’s hair and getting even worse.

“Oi! What are you guys doing to Luce?” Lucy looked up and saw the evil glint on Cana and Mira’s face, seriously, they were devils.  _Oh no._

“She’s feeling a little sick, why don’t you take her home?” Mira said sweetly as Cana shoved her into Natsu. Lucy sent them both a glare.

“Oh, Luce why didn’t you say anything? We could have gone home.” Lucy’s blush deepened as Natsu grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the guild, but not before Cana yelled after them.

“Make sure you don’t focus too much on just the piercings Lucy! He may need some emotional attention too!” Her cackle rang out as the partners stepped out of the guildhall.

Lucy put a hand to her face in mortification. “Luce? What is she talking about?” Natsu had a hand around her and she was very aware of the heat coming from it. She just shook her head, staying quiet with a grimace, for the entirety of the walk.

—

“Luce, why did you leave without me?” Lucy had gone to get groceries and hadn’t woken Natsu up when she left. He had woken up in a panic. She was currently standing in the kitchen, putting the groceries away, listening to Natsu’s complaints.

“We needed food Natsu.”

He just grunted in response, feeling the annoyance she held for him and not wanting to say anything to set her off. He walked behind her and carefully put his arms around her, and she fell back into them with a sigh. He rested his chin on the crown of her head. “I’m sorry Luce, it’s just—”

“The nightmares, I know.” She had been having to wake him up from the nightmares he was having about future Lucy dying again. She still didn’t know how to get him to see she was fine, that she could protect herself. Just as he didn’t know how to get her to see that he wouldn’t leave again. “I get it Natsu, its just— you can’t be with me  _all_ the time.”

“Yeah? Why not?”

“Because! What if I go on missions by myself, or with Levy?” Natsu tightened his arms around her.

“No. You have to go on missions with me. We’re a team aren’t we?” Natsu could tell she rolled her eyes at him, but a smile graced her lips.

“Yeah, I guess.” Lucy looked up at him over her shoulder after placing the rest of the fruit in the fridge. “Come on, let’s get to the guild.”

Natsu took her hand and he dragged them to the guild, Happy following behind them.

Lucy watched as Natsu held Happy up, pretending he was the baboon from a kids movie they had watched, and Happy was playing the baby lion. She giggled when they turned around and Natsu’s elbow smacked into Gray’s face, her hand coming up to her mouth. The two, of course, started a fight. But Erza was too busy eating cake to notice.

Lucy’s hand came down as she thought back to the letters she had written to her mother over the last few months. All touching on the same topic, at least for a single sentence in the writing.

_Dear Mom,_

_Everything has been a little insane lately. On the bright side though, father sent me a birthday present again this year, consisting of the ring Igneel had made you when you were younger, he had yours, his, and my name engraved on the inside. Natsu and I got back from another mission recently and things have been a little weird between us. The lingering gazes, the touches, the way he stays around me… I’m not sure what is happening to be honest._

_I admitted to Virgo how I felt about Natsu already, and it was freeing, but I can’t afford to tell him. I can’t afford to lose him. The days have been getting longer, nights more comforting than they used to be, even with the nightmares we both have. Natsu has been keeping an eye on me, but he is also a little too protective. He rarely lets me fight when we are on missions, and to be quite frank, it makes me feel like he doesn’t trust me. Now, of course I know that isn’t true, and he only wants to keep me from harm, but still. How am I supposed to get stronger if I can’t fight? He needs to let me try, trust me to protect myself. Like I trust him not to leave me. Not that I have much choice, it isn’t like I can lock him up and tell him to stay._

_But this past mission made us both think about that I think. I know I did at least. Happy had gone out on a mission with Carla and Wendy, and Gray was with Juvia. I have no idea where Erza had been, but it left just Natsu and I. Alone. Again. The mission was relatively easy, it was simply to clean the office of someone’s house. Nothing for Natsu to destroy. It was weird though. The client had hired mages to clean his office because of a weird lurking feeling he had. Said he couldn’t stand to be in his office, so he wanted to completely redo it._

_Like I said, not a big job. But there was something in there, not a feeling, but a note that we found. One that Natsu, being an absolute idiot like he always has been, read out loud. You’d think he would learn, but no! I don’t even remember what the note said, just that I was feeling really weird after he read it. He had a look on his face too. Made him look dangerous, and attractive. Not that he isn’t already of course! But we both looked at each other and there was something that flitted across his face that I know had been mirrored in mine as well. So, we took the note and trashed it, well, he burned it. Then finished up in the office, and everything seemed fine._

_But my feelings are getting harder to deny, and I don’t know if it’s because of that note or if it’s because my feelings are growing stronger. I had hoped that writing all of this down would help, but it’s only made me more confused._

_I will write more tomorrow,_

_Lucy_

Biting her lip, Lucy looked up from her thoughts when a shadow crossed her sight, noticing Natsu was suddenly standing in front of her, a sheepish smile on his face that he wore when he did something stupid. “What did you do this time?”

“Hey, why do you assume I did anything wrong?” She just raised her eyebrows at him. Natsu shrugged in response to the look, watching her carefully for any reaction. “Okay, so I may or may not have told Gray about our kiss.”

She breathed a sigh of relief, she wouldn’t have to scold him. She knew that the news was probably spread around the guild by that time anyway. “That’s it?”

“What do you mean  _that’s it_? You’re not mad at me? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you ain’t mad but…” He trailed off, looking at her in concern, but she just waved a hand in dismissal.

“Don’t worry about it. Erza, Cana, Levy, and Mira knew the first day we got back.” Natsu frowned and looked like a kicked puppy. “What? Aren’t you glad you’re not in trouble?”

“Yes, but I didn’t think  _you_  would tell anyone.”

“I didn’t tell them on  _purpose_! Those fools weaseled it out of me with their stupid questions!” Natsu laughed at her choice of words.

“Then they ain’t fools, huh?” Lucy shook her head, admitting that she could have thought of something better. Her eyes changed, focusing as she thought, putting a finger on her lips.

“What do you want for dinner tonight?” At the mention of food, Natsu’s stomach grumbled angrily at him, and he growled back, as though that would make it stop. Lucy smiled at him in amusement. “How about we get you some lunch?” Natsu nodded and Lucy looked over her shoulder at Mira, who went to make Natsu’s usual in the back.

“How about some pasta? I know that’s relatively easy, and something you enjoy.”

Lucy smiled at Natsu, rolling her eyes. “But I didn’t ask you what  _I_  wanted, now did I? I asked what you wanted.”

“Well, what I want, I would have to cook, so no. I want pasta.” She rolled her eyes again, seeing that the lazy dragon slayer was playing her rules just fine.

“You want steak don’t you?” Natsu nodded and Happy butt in, flying over from the other side of Natsu to land on Lucy’s shoulder.

“Can you make me fish tonight Lucy?”

She scrunched her eyebrows together in confusion. “Weren’t you going to visit the other exceeds?”

“Oh, right!”

Lucy smiled at his forgetfulness as he flew away from them to go talk with Carla and Pantherlily. “Luce?”

“Hmm?”

“You look weird.”

“I do not!”

—

Natsu leaned against the back of the couch and watched as Lucy lay spread out across the three cushions, reading her book intently. She kept making faces at the book, and he thought it was amusing. Sometimes she would even make sounds, her most recent was a content hum, and Natsu dropped a hand onto one of her legs, lightly tracing a pattern up and down it, smiling when she looked at him with a glare. He walked around the couch, picking up her legs and putting them on his lap while he sat down.

Her eyes narrowed slightly, eyebrows pulling together as she looked at him. She made that look a lot while she was reading. But now it was directed at him. He just made the same sound she most recently had and looked at her legs, rubbing patterns up and down. He began to massage her calf and she keened. Natsu had been training with her that morning, and he knew, that although she wouldn’t ever admit to it, she had to be sore.

Her calf muscles were taut as he worked them and Lucy had completely dropped the book, laying it open on her chest, forgotten. Her eyes had closed and she hummed again. Neither spoke, content to just be quiet in the moment, basking in each other’s presence, grateful for the connection of warmth they had. Natsu watched her for cues of where he should work her muscles. And when she had completely relaxed when he worked one, he went to the other.

He knew she loved getting a massage, and she told him every time that because he had warm hands it felt wonderful when he did it. That his heat loosened up the muscles easier. So, she had begun to teach him when to put some heat into it,  _when there is something like this Natsu,_ she had told him, running his hand thumb over a large knot in her leg,  _then you use your heat and dig it out, otherwise you could get cramps_. Natsu had taken to being her personal masseuse, simply because he liked feeling like he was doing something for her.

Now, he looked at her face, eyelids low over her iris’, she watched him drowsily. It had been a long day, but it was not over yet. His hand went up a little higher, gently telling her to turn over. She pulled the book off of her chest, putting it on the table Natsu had put his feet up on. She flipped and Natsu ran his hands up and down the length of her legs. She hummed again when he started to massage her hamstrings, relaxing again, even as she flinched when his fingers dug into her skin.

“Hey Luce?”

“Hmm?”

“Tell me a story.”

 


	8. Day 7: Fairy Tales/Mythology

“A story?” Lucy asked before letting out a grunt as his fingers dug into a particularly aching muscle.

“Yea, a story, you read lots of ‘em.” Natsu lightly heated his hand up, making sure he would have an easier time with the difficult muscle.

“All right. Have you heard of Alice in Wonderland?” Lucy put her hands under her head, trying to think of a story.

“Tell me one that hasn’t been written Lucy.” His hand dragged back down to her calf and massaged there again for a moment as she hummed.

“Do fairies have tails?”

“What?” Natsu didn’t realize she was starting her story, and she giggled.

“You can’t interrupt me if you want me to tell you a story.” He made a sound and she took that as an okay. Then Lucy began the story.

_“Do fairies have tails,” the little girl asked her mother._

_“No one knows sweetheart, for not one has seen those elusive creatures.”_

_“That’s not true momma, I’ve seen one.”_

_“Well, my dear,” the mother replied taking a brush through the young girl’s blonde hair, “then you should be the one we are asking. So, do fairies have tails?”_

_“I’m sure some do, but my friend doesn’t.”_

_“Your friend?” The mother looked at the doe-eyed child with sincere curiosity, and the child nodded._

_“My friend. She lives in the west part of the forest.” The mother looked at the child with concern and then continued brushing he hair._

_“But the west part of the forest is too far for you to venture my dear. Are you certain she isn’t just another imaginary friend?” The little girl looked up at her mother earnestly._

_“Mom, I’ve told you about my imaginary friends, I know the difference.” The young girl_ did  _know the difference, and she was quite intelligent for the seven years she had. “I promise mother, she is real.”_

_“Well, then please dear, find out if fairies have tails.” The young girl looked up at her mother and nodded. “Goodnight, Iris.”_

_“Goodnight, mom.” Iris laid in bed, thinking about her question, uncertain as to why she even wondered._

_Some years later, she was pondering the same thing and her eyes were beginning to drift close when there was a light tap on her window. She stood up and walked over to the window, opening it. “Kaimana, what are you doing here?” The boy stepped into her room._

_“Iris, come on. I want to take you on another adventure.” Iris grinned at her pink haired friend—_

Natsu chuckled lightly and Lucy smiled, “Why not just use our names if they are based off of us Luce? It’s okay, I don’t mind.” She hummed as his hands continued their magic, and nodded.

_“Luce,” Natsu said, “come on. I want to take you on another adventure.” Lucy grinned at her pink haired friend, and he grinned back. She stepped into his arms._

_“Come on dragon boy.” She whispered to him. He wrapped his arms around her carefully, and spread the wings he had kept hidden. Red scales smooth over taut muscles, powerful enough to give the boy flight. He jumped out of her window, and the two flew. Lucy leaned into him, putting her mouth next to his ear. “Let’s go visit Levy.”_

_Natsu chuckled and turned his head so he could speak to her. “But she takes all of your attention,” his hands tightened on her waist, “and I want to be the center of your attention tonight.”_

_“Please Natsu?” The young dragon smiled at his friend, giving in easily to her sweet pleas._

_“Fine, but you have to teach me more about the stars.” She grinned in response, nodding her head eagerly as the two began their descent._

_Natsu made a face and Lucy laughed. “Something wrong?”_

_He growled lightly. “Gajeel’s here.”_

_“Well, he is another dragon just like you, wouldn’t he also have a princess to protect?” Natsu nodded, not seeing where the blonde was going. “Levy is the fairy princess Natsu. That would mean he would be here protect her.”_

_You see, the dragons in this world, although still protection for the princesses, are practically raised by their wards side. Natsu and Lucy were raised together, the young celestial princess and the young fire dragon prince. But only Lucy and her mother knew Natsu was a prince. Mainly because he would never admit to it, saying that princes were boring and stupid. But he was secretly glad, because it meant he wouldn’t have to leave Lucy. Not ever._

“What do you mean he wouldn’t have to leave her?”

Lucy turned her head over her shoulder to look at Natsu. “I was  _getting_ to that.”

“You’re taking too long Luce.” He whined, but he was interested in the story, and that alone made her smile at him.

“Lushi, when am I gonna come in?” Lucy looked to see Happy had woken up from where he had been asleep on the armrest. Lucy grinned at the blue cat, surprised either of them were still paying attention to her story.

“Soon. Very soon. Now shush you two. I’m trying to tell you a story.”

_You see, the young princess was only allowed to marry royalty, and when Lucy had found that out she had cried for days. Until Natsu had comforted her, telling her that it would be okay because she would still be able to choose whoever she wished to marry. She had shaken her head into his chest, wrapping him in a tight embrace before telling him that he was the only one she wanted to share her life with. Natsu had frozen and she had apologized profusely._ I’m so sorry, I swear, it just slipped out of my mouth. Oh gods, there is no way I can take that back, please don’t leave.  _But Natsu just waved it off, grinning at her like the fool he was._

“Hey!” Lucy chuckled at Natsu’s outburst, knowing that he didn’t like that bit.

_He had pulled her tighter against him and smiled into her golden locks, telling her it was all going to be okay, because_ don’t worry, I’m a prince.  _Lucy had looked up at the dragon prince shocked. Before her expression gave way to an excited smile. She grinned at the prospect of marrying her best friend, because at least she would be with someone who cared about her, even if they weren’t in love._

_The next day, the contract had been drawn up and Lucy had quickly added an escape route for Natsu if he didn’t want to marry her._ He can fall in love and marry someone else, it is only fair _. She had given her all to him, and he wanted to say the same, but she could only marry royalty, and there was only one royal she liked beside her mother._

_So, her dragon protector was also her lover. She smiled at him as the two made their way further into the forest, excited to see her friend._

_“Lu? Is that you?” Lucy ran forwards, out of Natsu’s arms and he looked around for the other dragon to come out. When Gajeel did step out, his wings were displayed proudly, as Natsu’s were. The two growled at each other, but it was a fight neither would win, because neither of them were the alpha, that was reserved for someone else._

_“Hey Levy!” Natsu turned his attention back to the blonde and stepped toward her, lightly touching her shoulder. “We need to draw a treaty up soon. I’m getting a little anxious.”_

_“Yes,” her blue haired fairy friend replied, before looking behind her at Natsu with a knowing grin. “But we cannot do that until you are married.” Lucy turned her head over her shoulder to smile at her friend._

_“Less than a year now.”_

_They had to wait until Lucy was eighteen, simply because that was the proper mating age for a dragon. “Yeah.” Natsu’s tense shoulders relaxed and Levy stepped back into her own dragon protector._

_“Until then, Lu! I will see you at the wedding.” Lucy pouted, wanting to spend more time with her friend, but turning around to face Natsu._

_“One more stop.” He groaned and she giggled. “I want to see Wendy.”_

_Ah, yes, the alpha of the dragons. The female may seem shy and reserved, but she was ever the alpha when she needed to be, and because of her sweet nature the dragon boys took care of her without complaint. Natsu and Wendy were like siblings, and in turn, so were Wendy and Lucy. Currently, there is only one spawn for each dragon, and they are all royalty. So Wendy, is a princess. The others, besides her close friends, call her the sky maiden, and she was known to be very kind, but also very dominant. So, Natsu loved her like a sister, and was very protective of her._

_“Lucy!”_

_“Wendy!”_

_“Natsu!” The two girls looked at him with a look. “What? I thought we were noting who was here.” They looked at each other before bursting out in laughter, and Natsu blinked._

_“Natsu!”_

_“Happy!” This time, Natsu ran over to his cat._

_“Why’d you leave me?”_

_“I had to go pick up Lucy.” He looked back over his shoulder where the two girls were chatting. Wendy nodded before looking up at Natsu with a thoughtful look. Lucy was walking back towards the boy, and she smiled at the cat on his shoulder._

_“Hello Happy. We are gonna go look at the stars. Wanna come?” Happy nodded, excited to actually have been invited. He settled on Lucy’s shoulder as Natsu picked her up, and the three vanished into the night._

_Nearly a year later, the two were married, Natsu and Lucy were mated and together. Celestial and fire kingdoms united, but not quite one. Not until a few years later when they had a sweet baby girl with pink hair. The king and queen loved their little princess, and showered her with love every day._

“They all lived happily ever after. The end.”

Natsu had just finished with her hamstrings and slid over, underneath her stomach so he could reach her back. “What did they name the little girl?”

“I don’t know.”

“Why wasn’t I in there more Lucy?”

“Because the story is longer and more detailed, but you guys have a short attention span, so I chopped it down.” Lucy laughed at the noise of offense that came from both of the boys. Natsu began to massage her hips and her face fell down into the armrest of the couch. “Oh god, that feels good Natsu.” He really did have magic fingers.

She moaned again and again as he got out knots that had been hurting for weeks, and slowly her eyes began to close. She hummed in content again as Natsu continued his mission. He continued long after she had fallen asleep, light snores escaping her. “Guess we should get you into bed, huh?” He whispered, kissing her forehead as he laid her down onto the bed, before shutting off the lights and laying down with her.

—

Lucy woke up extremely warm, and knew she was being cuddled by her personal body heater. She turned over in his arms to see his eyes trained lazily on her. “Mornin’ Luce.”

“Morning Natsu.” He licked his lips and she followed the movement of his piercing with her eyes.

“Luce, I  _really_ wanna kiss you.” She was nodding before she thought about it, and just as his lips crashed over hers she had opened them. Her eyes widened for a second before she slowly closed them, and his hand wrapped on her hip tightened, holding her as though she would move away.

A moan came from her throat, followed by a growl from his with him rolling on top of her. Her arms wrapped around his neck, pulling him tighter against her. He pulled back to breathe for a moment, looking at Lucy. Natsu ran a hand along her cheek, thumbing it softly. “I love you, a lot.”

“Huh?” Her eyes opened and she looked up at him.

“Luce, please— Will you please be my girlfriend?”

Her eyes glazed over a moment as she thought about what that would mean. If something went wrong between them, they would most likely stay friends, but it would be awkward, for her at least. On the other hand, she wanted Natsu, and bad. She’s loved him for years and he was finally asking her out.  _He got the piercings for you idiot, of course he’s gonna like you!_ Her conscience was screaming at her, and she focused back on Natsu.

“Okay.”

“Oh, I mean, that’s fine, I just figured I’d tell— wait, okay?” Natsu seemed to be prepared for the worst, as he had rolled off of her completely. She rolled over on top of him, leaning down and kissing him before speaking again.

“Yeah, okay.” Lucy watched as his grin spread across his features, he was bright, always so bright, and it made her so happy.

Speaking of happy, “you liiiiiiike each other!”

“Happy!” The two yelled in unison, but then Natsu chuckled, looking up at Lucy.

“Yeah, we do like each other. A lot.”


End file.
